Chapter 6: Nameless Oracular Formula
Editor: Henyee
“Get up, get up.”
A barely audible sound came from above Han Li, rousing him from his deep slumber. As soon as he opened his eyes, a huge face appeared in front of him. In shock, Han Li pushed himself backwards. Only then was he able to see that the owner of the face that had frightened him to death was the boy named Zhang Tie.
“Hurry up and come eat something. After you’ve finished, we need to see Old Mo.” Zhang Tie passed some steaming white buns over to Han Li.
“Where did you find this food?” Han Li stared blankly for a moment before accepting the buns.
“At a kitchen near the valley, I saw a ton of people eating food, so I also grabbed a portion. After I had finished, I realized that you hadn’t eaten yet, so I grabbed two buns for you.” Zhang Tie smiled sincerely at Han Li.
“Thank you very much, Brother Zhang.” Han Li was somewhat touched. Seeing that Zhang Tie looked quite a bit older than himself, he couldn’t help but blurt out the words “Brother Zhang.”
“No…no problem. I’m too used to labor. If I’m idle even for just a moment, I always feel a bit….uncomfortable. If you ever need any help in the future, don’t hesitate to tell me. I have nothing else but strength.” Zhang Tie seemed to be somewhat embarrassed, as he began to stammer.
Han Li hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch and was somewhat starved. In just a few bites, he devoured one bun. With just a bit more effort, both of the large buns completely disappeared into his stomach.
“It’s getting late, we should go see Old Mo.” Han Li burped a few times and looked out the window towards the setting sun. After mentally calculating the time, he decided that it was probably about time to go see Doctor Mo.
Zhang Tie didn’t object, following Han Li to Doctor Mo’s house.
There were rows of bookshelves along all four walls of Doctor Mo’s residence. These shelves were densely packed with various books.
“Old Mo!”
“Old Mo!”
……
Doctor Mo’s back was tightly pressed against his chair as he was currently engrossed in reading the book in his hands. He didn’t seem to have noticed the two people’s arrival, nor had he heard their greetings. The two of them were still children after all, so when they saw Doctor Mo ignore them, they were at a loss on what to do, unsure of what would be the best course of action. Thus, they could only stand to one side and wait.
Finally, by the time Han Li’s feet had begun to turn numb, Doctor Mo slowly placed his book down onto the table next to him. He coldly looked over at the two children and picked up his teacup to drink a few sips before slowly saying:
“From this day on, you two will be accepted as my Unofficial Disciples. I will teach you some general knowledge on picking medicinal plants and refining medicines. I may also teach you two some life-saving healing techniques. But I will absolutely not teach you any martial arts.” Doctor Mo expressionlessly put down his teacup.
“I will teach you two a set of body and spiritual cultivation chants. Although it won’t allow you to successfully subdue your enemy, it will strengthen your bodies. If you guys really want to learn some martial arts, you can go learn them from some other instructors. If you do so, I won’t object, but I’ll check your progression on this set of cultivation chants in half a year. If you don’t meet the standard, I’ll force you out to become an outer disciple. Do you two understand?” Doctor Mo’s tone suddenly became much more serious. It looked like he attached great importance to this set of chants.
“We understand.” Han Li and Zhang Tie replied in unison.
“You two should leave now. Come back tomorrow morning.” Doctor Mo waved his hands at the two of them, gesturing for them to go out. He then picked up his book and began reading it again.
Before Han Li left, he couldn’t help but glance back at the book in Doctor Mo’s hands. It was a pity that he didn’t know how to read; he could only tell that the title was made up of three large, black characters. Unfortunately, Han Li didn’t recognize them.
As soon as Han Li walked out of Doctor Mo’s residence, Han Li couldn’t help but let out the breath he had been holding. He didn’t know why, but just now, he hadn’t even dared to breathe in Doctor Mo’s presence. His mind had also been incredibly tensed. Now that he had left, he immediately loosened up, returning to his normal state.
During the following few days, Han Li’s excitement never faded. He’d finally become a disciple of the Seven Mysteries Sect. Although he was still just an Unofficial Disciple, it was still better than the children that had been sent home. Even if he didn’t pass the test in half a year, he could still become an Outer Disciple like Third Uncle. In Han Li’s opinion, Third Uncle was a person of great status and position, so he didn’t concern himself over the examination in half a year. He even secretly hoped from the bottom of his heart that he wouldn’t pass. That way, he could leave the mountain earlier to see his parents and his most beloved younger sister.
During the following few days, Doctor Mo would teach them some medicinal knowledge in the mornings. In the afternoons, he would make them study the body’s twelve main meridians, energy channels, and acupoint locations. As for the little he taught them of martial arts, he made them maintain the horse stance and hit straw dummies.
A month later, the two of them were completely isolated from the other children. They no longer spent time learning anything else besides the chant. Ever since Doctor Mo had begun teaching them, they spent most of their time practicing the nameless chant. Doctor Mo strictly ordered them to not tell the chants to anyone else. If even a small segment was leaked, Doctor Mo would harshly punish them and kick them out of his apprenticeship.
During this period of time, Han Li began to have a better understand of the Seven Mysteries Sect and Doctor Mo. The Seven Mysteries Sect had a disciple named Wang Lu, who possessed the teachings handed down by the Sovereign Seven Supreme. Wang Lu became the Sect Leader of the Seven Mysteries Sect, and he split the sect with the help of the three other Sect Leaders. They divided the sect into two segments – the Inner and Outer Branch. The Outer Branch had a total of four divisions, namely the Flying Bird Division, Treasure Gathering Division, Four Seas Division, and External Blade Division. The Inner Branch also had four divisions, namely the Hundred Forge Division, Seven Supreme Division, Consecrated Division, and Blood Blade Division. In addition to the Inner and Outer Branch, there was a Council of Elders that reported to the Vice Sect Leaders and the Sect Leader.
Doctor Mo was originally not a disciple of the Seven Mysteries Sect. A few years ago, Sect Leader Wang carelessly fell into an enemy’s trap while outside of the Celestial Rainbow Mountain and was heavily injured by the multiple attacks from the opposing party. As he wavered on the brink of death, his allies were unable to do anything about it. Just then, they happened to encounter Doctor Mo whose brilliant healing and effective medicines saved Sect Leader Wang’s life. Sect Leader Wang naturally couldn’t help but feel extremely grateful for Doctor Mo. He later found out that in addition to his profound medical expertise, Doctor Mo was a strong martial arts practitioner, which convinced Sect Leader Wang to invite Doctor Mo to join his sect. The elders carefully picked a small valley in the mountains to erect a residence specifically for Doctor Mo’s use in order to make the shift as comfortable as possible. The valley soon became a venerated place within the Seven Mysteries Sect thanks to Doctor Mo. Although none of the disciples had ever witnessed his skills, nor did they know how strong his martial arts was, Doctor Mo had used his brilliant medical expertise to save quite a few disciples’ lives. Thus, although he was normally expressionless and was a man of few words, he received a great amount of respect from the Inner Disciples.
Chapter 7: The Difficulties of Cultivating
Editor: Henyee
Han Li slowly transferred energy from his meridians back to his Dantian. He had managed to reach the 7th cycle of Qi circulation today, and Han Li knew that his body had already reached the limit of what it could handle. If he were to try to do another cycle, all his meridians would completely rupture, inciting a pain worse than death. Even though he was a courageous person, Han Li couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat at the thought of this pain.
It had already been half a year since Han Li joined the sect, and the official Unofficial Disciple exam had ended slightly over two months ago.
Only a small portion of the Unofficial Disciples were officially promoted to the Inner Branch. Most Unofficial Disciples weren’t able to pass this point and had no other choice but to pack their belongings and become a disciple of the Outer Branch.
The children that didn’t pass would generally enter the Treasure Gathering Division or the Flying Bird Division. For those that showed outstanding performances, they would receive another step further in their training and would then have the chance to join the more respected External Blade Division. Of course, it was only natural that the Four Seas Division was the most respected of the four Divisions, but unfortunately, they only accepted those that made names for themselves through their martial arts. If one didn’t have a certain level of expertise in martial arts, it was pointless for them to even dream about joining the Four Seas Division; these immature and inexperienced children were even less worthy of any mention.
When Han Li recalled the details of the examination from two months ago, he couldn’t help but feel a bit frightened.
A few dozen miles away from the Celestial Rainbow Mountains was a neighboring desolate mountain where a group of people were sparring. There were a few senior disciples who excelled in martial arts and were fiercely locked in combat. With each and every test, Han Li couldn’t help but feel a little bit of joy at the misery of others.
During their entire stay at the Seven Mysteries Sect, Han Li and Zhang Tie had never taken such a terrifying test before. Doctor Mo had said that his examination would only test them on the cultivation chant, but Han Li didn’t believe the test would be as easy as it sounded. Looking back, Han Li could clearly remember the intense effort he had to put into his cultivation.
According to Doctor Mo, this oracular chant was only a single part of a set. Within half a year, Han Li and Zhang Tie had successfully comprehended the first layer of the cultivation chant, which Doctor Mo would be examining. If the two were able to overcome Doctor Mo’s expectations, then they could become Doctor Mo’s personal disciples and even share the same benefits as the Inner Disciples.
Not to mention, Han Li had also heard from others that the treatment the Inner Disciples and Outer Disciples received was so vastly different that it spoke volumes of how enormous of a difference there was between the two. He then realized how ignorant he had been and cast away any thoughts of becoming an Inner Disciple. Han Li would be satisfied by just joining the Seven Mysteries Sect and receiving some silver to send back to his family. Everything else had seemed irrelevant because, above all else, he truly desired to help his poverty-stricken family. His only goal was to be able to take money home so he could provide his family with a better life.
After learning Doctor Mo’s chant, Han Li had not once stopped cultivating. He spent every possible moment of day and night relentlessly practicing the chant. Because Doctor Mo hadn’t given them any pointers on how to cultivate, Han Li could only theorize by himself. After discussing with other young cultivators, he discovered they were using the Seven Mysteries Sect’s “Positive Yang Energy”, a self-meditated cultivation method.
Relying on both the chant and the Positive Yang Energy, he cultivated assiduously for 3 months, but Han Li was shocked to realize that his progress was extremely slow! He had spent a great deal of effort and yet he was rewarded with one small thread of cool energy inside of his body. The energy was so infinitesimal that he could barely notice that it was there. If he hadn’t checked his body carefully for results, he would not have noticed the strand of energy.
Could this be the rumored True Qi the instructors had talked about? Han Li suddenly came to this realization.
The other disciples cultivating the Positive Yang Energy had told him that there was a distinct flow of warm energy and Qi being generated within their bodies. However, the thread of energy in Han Li’s body was extremely cold, completely opposite from the energy gained from cultivating Positive Yang Energy! Looking at the results, it was obvious Han Li was very far behind the other disciples.
Those who used the True Qi from the Positive Yang Energy cultivation were able to punch a fist-sized hole through a small tree trunk and leap three meters into the air. Han Li, however, after circulating the strange Qi in his body, felt practically no different from his normal state. The only difference he could tell was that his spirit was more vigorous and his appetite was even more ravenous than before he came to the mountain. But what use was that? Seeing that the other children on the mountains were gaining ridiculous power, Han Li couldn’t help but feel dejected.
After realizing that he had barely made any progress, Han Li had nearly given up on his several months of hard work. He thought that with such a huge gap between himself and the others, he would not have a chance to catch up to the other children in the remaining amount of time before Doctor Mo’s test and successfully pass it. It would be better to plan for his trip back home instead.
Incidentally, Han Li one day came across the cultivating Zhang Tie and realized something. Ever since Zhang Tie had started his cultivation with this mysterious oracular formula chant, his body showed no changes at all. There was no effect; not even a small amount of True Qi could be seen!
Knowing that he had at least succeeded in forming one strand of True Qi, Han Li regained the confidence he had thrown away earlier. With the remaining amount of time, he furiously tried to cultivate the oracular chant.
He worked even harder than before, training like a madman.
Han Li began to use every single second to meditate and cultivate. Even when he was sleeping, he kept his body upright in a meditative position in hopes of having even a slight breakthrough. Of course, this intensive training method could not be maintained for longer than a few days. If he strained himself past his limit, his lack of sleep would make him unable to efficiently cultivate.
What puzzled Han Li the most was that after Doctor Mo imparted the oracular chant to the two of them, he stopped interacting with them. Even their questions on cultivation had been ignored by him as if he did not even notice their existence.
Every day, Doctor Mo would bring out the book with the three black characters written on the back cover and study it, staring intently as if the lines of text outlined the image of a beautiful woman and the cover was made of pure gold. At the beginning, Han Li and Zhang Tie thought that Doctor Mo no longer wanted to be a medical doctor but rather was studying bitterly to pass an imperial exam. After the two children learned to read, however, they recognized the three words on the back cover, which read “Scripture of Longevity.” Doctor Mo was reading a book about how to cultivate oneself to the point of extending one’s lifespan.
In that moment, the two children suddenly realized that Doctor Mo wasn’t trying to pass the imperial exam; he was trying to live thousands of years like a river turtle.
(TL: turtles were thought to be able for live for thousands of years)
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
2 Power
stone 
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