Within the Mountain Lord Temple, Chen Shi advanced with deliberate steps, covering a distance of one and a half zhang in an instant. His body collided with the air, even producing a sound like thunderous rumbling, that made the doors and windows of the Mountain Lord Temple clatter loudly!
He threw a punch, the force of which blew through the air, reaching a zhang away, like thunder on a calm plain.
Chen Shi stimulated his Qi-Blood and launched another punch with even greater force. The wind raised by the punch burst forth with a somber sound of thunder; as his fist moved, the rumbling was both loud and startling.
With each shift of his stance, he stepped upon the Big Dipper’s seven stars, moving as nimbly and swiftly as a ghost, traversing the temple’s ground, walls, and pillars with punches and kicks that thundered like muffled roars!
In a span of one and a half to six zhang, intent arrived with the body, and with the body, the punch!
Moments later, Chen Shi gently landed, his surging Qi-Blood calming down in an instant, his billowing clothes also returning to stillness.
His breath steady and spirit at ease, he could only feel the True Qi within him churning incessantly.
The True Qi circulated with an overwhelming vigor, spontaneously forming a shrine of light at the back of his head. The shrine was brilliantly illuminated, extremely dazzling to behold.
Shockingly, the True Qi within him showed no signs of dissipating, and the shrine’s light did not fade.
After a period, his True Qi began to leak away, the light of the shrine gradually dimmed, but the shrine itself remained unbroken.
"Though I’ve cultivated the Divine Embryo, I still can’t completely retain the shrine. Without the shrine, there’s no True Qi. The corporeal Divine Embryo merely slows the dissipation of True Qi. To truly retain it, one still requires the real Divine Embryo."
Though Chen Shi felt a tinge of regret, he was largely content. He bowed to the empty shrine within the Mountain Lord Temple and walked out.
He closed the temple’s doors and prepared to descend the mountain.
He did not take a carriage.
The day before yesterday, for some reason, the coachman who had always been obedient to him had acted as if he had seen a ghost upon sighting Chen Shi, driving off hastily and disappearing without a trace.
Chen Shi had been quite fond of Xiao Wangsun’s carriage; traveling in it these past few days had felt impressively grand. He had searched for a long time but to no avail, failing to find the carriage outside Mirror Lake Villa, and for this, he had felt regretful for quite a while.
After he left, a profound energy began to swirl inside the temple, gradually converging towards the shrine, faintly revealing the visage of a god or demon.
Just as the divine form was about to solidify, the profound energy, no longer contained, collapsed on its own, once again dispersing throughout the temple.
A deep sigh emitted from within the shrine.
"Still not possible then?"
Chen Shi had walked far and did not hear this sigh.
Outside Huangpo Village, beneath an old willow tree, Chen Shi, as usual, offered incense on the stele that was his godmother.
Although the stele godmother remained unresponsive, the blue light that trickled over it lasted longer, hinting at some profound mystery being nurtured within.
Chen Shi tried to use the act of offering incense to connect with the godmother. However, upon his consciousness touching the stele, aside from perceiving the vast and infinite void, there was nothing else.
"Perhaps my godmother is just an ordinary stone."
Chen Shi didn’t take it to heart; he offered Zhu Xiucai a stick of incense, then quietly waited for Zhu Xiucai to absorb the fragrance of the incense.
"Zhu Xiucai is my benefactor, no, my auspicious ghost!"
Chen Shi’s heart swelled with emotion, "Regrettably, I was mutilated and became a cripple when someone cut out my Divine Embryo. But I was also incredibly lucky to meet Zhu Xiucai, allowing me to seek knowledge from him. Otherwise, I might not have passed the Literary Examination in the county examination. This spring’s county examination, I shall certainly shine in the scholarly examination!"
As he thought this, an old man and a young boy approached from the foot of the yellow earthy slope. The elder was of advanced age, frail and stooped, walking bowed over, but with keen eyes.
The young boy wore a blue robe and white shirt, a blue ribbon in his hair and a red sash around his waist with a white lotus jade pendant attached. On his feet were a pair of polished shoes, giving him a very refined look.
The boy appeared to be about eleven or twelve years old, following alongside the elder, his gaze bright. Although their clothing was simple, the fabrics were of good quality, indicating that they weren’t immensely wealthy, but they lived comfortably and with care.
Chen Shi withdrew his gaze and took out the Analects, consulting Zhu Xiucai, "The Master said, ’I have never seen one who loves virtue as much as sensual beauty.’ Some may counter, ’Shen Cheng.’ The Master said, ’Cheng also has his passions; how can he fulfill the requirements of virtue?’ How should I interpret this?"
"To understand this passage, one must grasp the Master’s intention. The Master, being undefeated under the heavens, laments, ’I have never met anyone whom my fists cannot destroy.’"
Zhu Xiucai explained, "Then someone mentioned Shen Cheng is formidable, having cultivated a Vajra Body. The Master said Shen Cheng is not up to it. ’I’ve tried; he’s not that tough.’ Little Ten, if you can fathom the Master’s state of mind when he said this, you’ll be invincible."
Chen Shi pondered this in thought.
At that moment, from the foot of the yellow slope, came the young boy’s voice: "Grandfather, stop! My seventh uncle, Li Kefa, must have died here."
Jolted back to reality from his contemplation of the Master’s mindset, Chen Shi looked down to see the old and the young halted in their tracks, surveying the nearby terrain and scenery of the yellow slope.
"Li Kefa? Seems like the County Magistrate of Water Buffalo County, father of the unfortunate Li Xiaoding. How did he die?" Chen Shi was puzzled.
Hearing the young boy say Li Kefa died near the yellow slope startled him. Huangpo Village was named after this very slope; it meant that Li Kefa had died near Huangpo Village!
"This boy calls Li Kefa his seventh uncle, so they must be from the Li Family!" Chen Shi was inwardly alert.
At the foot of the yellow slope, the elder inquired with confusion, "Tianqing, how do you know your seventh uncle died here? I have not seen his spirit."
The elder’s gaze turned towards Chen Shi. Chen Shi felt as if a ball of fire had been focused on him, and only when the elder looked away did the burning sensation vanish.
"This old man is strong!"
Chen Shi had just thought this when he saw the elder’s gaze fall on Zhu Xiucai, who was hanging from a tree, and his heart tightened, "He can see Zhu Xiucai without using a Heavenly Eye Talisman! Yes, he has cultivated the Heavenly Eye that can see Spiritual Bodies!"