Han Li and Zhang Tie, upon seeing the two senior disciples’ sudden change of heart, naturally couldn't object. They could only accept in silence and follow the old man into the forest.
Doctor Mo led the two of them down a small path that meandered through the forest. The path turned left and right before suddenly stopping in front of an entrance leading to a luscious green valley.
On the left side of the valley was a large field used for farming medicinal herbs that emitted a fragrant smell into the air. Gazing at the field, Han Li spotted many herbs that he couldn't recognize. At the same time, on the right side of the valley were lines of houses of varying sizes. Han Li looked around, but apart from the gateway they entered through, there didn't seem to be any other exits in the valley.
“This valley is called God Hand Valley. Other disciples will not dare enter this valley unless they are sick or injured.” The old man stood in the middle of the line of houses and pointed to a smaller house. “For now, this will be your home. Rest and replenish your energy. When night falls, look for me in my house so I can inform you about some things.”
“The two of you can call me Old Mo.” The old man huffed and considered for a moment before saying:
“Doctor Mo is also acceptable.”
After speaking, Doctor Mo ignored the two of them and slowly walked towards a lavish looking house, coughing with each step.
Completely exhausted, Han Li did not bother to check with Zhang Tie before entering the smaller house and finding a bed to fall asleep on. He was satisfied, because, at this moment, he was halfway to becoming an Inner Disciple of the Seven Mysteries Sect.
Chapter 6: Nameless Oracular Chant
“Get up, hey, 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 quickly scrambled backwards, and 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 eat this. After you’ve finished, we need to see Old Mo.” Zhang Tie said, passing a couple 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 big kitchen near the valley, I saw a ton of people eating there, 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.”
“N-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, and a few moments later, 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 arrival of the two, 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 beside 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 said, as he put down his teacup again.
“I will teach you two a cultivation chant to nurture your mind and body. Although it won't allow you to directly subdue your enemies, it will still help strengthen you. 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 cultivation chant 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 a great deal of importance to this chant.
“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 leave. 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 again.
During the following few days, Doctor Mo would teach them some medicinal knowledge in the mornings. In the afternoons, he would make them go to the library to learn how to read, and have 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 understanding of the Seven Mysteries Sect and Doctor Mo. The Seven Mysteries Sect had someone 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 Vice Sect Leaders. They divided the sect into two segments – the Inner Branch and the 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 also a Council of Elders that reported to the Vice Sect Leaders and the Sect Leader.
As for Doctor Mo, he was not originally 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 from the enemy party's attacks. As he wavered on the brink of death, his allies were helpless to do anything to save him.
Just then, they happened to encounter Doctor Mo whose brilliant healing and effective medicines saved Sect Leader Wang’s life. As a result, Sect Leader Wang naturally couldn’t help but feel extremely grateful toward Doctor Mo. He later found out that in addition to his profound medical expertise, Doctor Mo was also a strong martial arts practitioner, which led 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. Thanks to him, the valley soon became a venerated place within the Seven Mysteries Sect.
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 of the disciples’ lives. Thus, although he was normally expressionless and was a man of few words, he received a great amount of respect.
Chapter 7: The Difficulties of Cultivating
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, then all of 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.
The participants had to first run a lap around the Celestial Rainbow Mountain, amounting to a total distance of close to 10 kilometers. Immediately after, they had to group up and engage in combat with each other while secluded in the forest. Finally, they had to endure a certain number of attacks from their more skilled and powerful senior martial brothers. With each and every test, Han Li couldn't help but feel a little 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. Of course, 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 would have to successfully comprehend the first layer of the cultivation chant, which Doctor Mo would be examining. If the two met Doctor Mo’s expectations, then they could become Doctor Mo’s personal disciples and even share the same benefits as Inner Disciples.
Ever since he heard about the different treatments afforded to Inner Disciples and Outer Disciples, Han Li completely abandoned his plan of simply becoming an Outer Disciple so he could return home. At the moment, nothing was more important to him than to be able to receive more silver from the Seven Mysteries Sect for him to take and send back to his family. He had truly become fearful and sick of living in poverty, and he knew that the more silver he earned, the better the lives of his siblings and parents would become.
After learning Doctor Mo’s chant, Han Li had not once stopped cultivating. He spent every possible moment of the day and night relentlessly practicing the chant. Due to the fact that Doctor Mo hadn't provided them with any guidance in cultivation, Han Li could only figure things out for himself. He referenced the basic Seven Mysteries Sect inner cultivation art used by the other children, "Positive Yang Energy", and devised his own method for cultivation.
Relying on this method, he cultivated arduously 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 only 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 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 that 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 self. 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 powers, 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 wouldn't 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 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 couldn't be maintained for more than a few days. If he strained himself past his limit, his lack of sleep would make him unable to efficie
ntly cultivate during the day.
What puzzled Han Li the most was that after Doctor Mo imparted the oracular chant to the two of them, he never once asked them about the progress of their cultivation. Even their questions on cultivation had been ignored by him as if he had forgotten he imparted the chant to them.
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. In the beginning, Han Li and Zhang Tie thought that Doctor Mo no longer wanted to be a medical doctor and was studying bitterly to pass the 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)
Chapter 8: Entering the Sect as a Disciple
After half a year of relentless cultivation, Han Li was finally going to take Doctor Mo’s test.
Zhang Tie was fidgeting as he stood close to Han Li. His behavior was nothing strange, as Zhang Tie had told Han Li that for the past six months he had made no progress on the oracular chant given to them by Doctor Mo.
Han Li knew that Zhang Tie’s efforts in cultivating the oracular chant were no less intense than his own. Although Zhang Tie was unlike Han Li, who practiced like a madman, the efforts he expended could still be considered conscientious and diligent!
Strangely, the oracular chant seemed to be useless to Zhang Tie. No matter how much effort he put in, he wasn’t able to produce even the slightest amount of effects. It seems like Zhang Tie would never successfully cultivate the oracular chant.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 9
