Chapter 7: Practicing on the Day, Undercurrents in the Palace

The next morning, Wu Yi got up early and moved the stone that sealed the door. It was still dark outside, but there were faint lights. He placed the beads and candlesticks at the door. The plain appearance made it look like an ordinary palace lantern. Who could discover the secret? The divine objects were obscure, probably like this.

The morning stars were sparse, and occasionally there were some insect sounds. Looking down from the top of the mountain, it was not clear because of the night, but this hazy feeling was what Wu Yi enjoyed the most. He could put aside his fighting spirit and enjoy a moment of tranquility.

Wu Yi stood outside the cave, with his hands behind his back, the morning breeze blew up his sleeves, and he waited quietly for the sunrise.

I don’t know how long it took, the sun rose, and I saw the morning light driving away the darkness like a tide, and the world was bright.

The sun was rising, yin and yang were stirring, and it contained good fortune. If you practice at this time, you can get great benefits. Unfortunately, Wu Yi's qi sense was not yet born, and even the vitality in his body was not sorted out. How could he dare to absorb the external spiritual energy? When the spiritual energy ran wild, it would be a big problem. So Wu Yi was just enjoying the scenery and relaxing his mood.

Wu Yi didn't need the qi of the early sun, but it didn't mean that others didn't need it. In just a moment, Wu Yi saw four or five brothers standing on a big rock or standing on the top of a tree, breathing in and out spiritual energy. There was a mist around them, like smoke and gauze. At a glance, you can tell that they have entered the stage of gathering qi, and can gather the qi of heaven and earth on the surface of their bodies. One or two of them looked up at the peak and nodded to Wu Yi, and Wu Yi nodded in return.

The early sun energy lasts for a short time and will dissipate in a cup of tea after sunrise. Seeing that several brothers at the foot of the mountain turned around and left, Wu Yi also walked into the cave. The beads at the door sparkled under the sunlight. After understanding how to sense the beads last night, Wu Yi sank into the beads and saw a scene that surprised him.

Unlike the scene he saw last night, there was a bright light in the beads, and the light became stronger as it went to the center, but it was not dazzling, but it made people feel warm and comfortable.

With his familiarity with the flame, Wu Yi easily found the flame and the black beetle jumping around in the flame.

When he first saw Wu Yi, the black beetle jumped up in fright, and only after falling down did he feel too embarrassed. He looked at Wu Yi vigilantly and asked seriously: "What are you doing here? The spiritual energy accumulated in a day is not enough for me to teach you the skills."

"I just came in to take a look, I didn't do anything." Wu Yi glanced at the black beetle and said casually, and then looked at the changes in the bead.

Knowing that Wu Yi was not here to urge him to practice, the black beetle could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. He knew that he had no ability to expel Wu Yi, so he simply ignored Wu Yi's presence and swallowed the light around him.

As the black beetle continued to swallow, the light gradually became sparse and dim. It was obvious that the black beetle had gained a lot of benefits, but Wu Yi didn't care, because he also saw that the flames wrapped around the black beetle had also grown a lot, so there was no need to worry that the black beetle would rush out of the flames after it became stronger.

He even found that he could control the flames and thus cut off the absorption of external light. Although he was severely warned by the black beetle for this, Wu Yi felt relieved after knowing that he could control the speed of the black beetle's practice.

Wu Yi was about to continue watching the changes inside the bead, when suddenly there was a sound of footsteps from the outside world. The restless Wu Yi quickly disappeared and his consciousness returned to the outside world.

After returning to the outside world, Wu Yi looked at the bead thoughtfully. Could it be that only by concentrating all his attention could he enter the bead? But now there was no time for him to try, because there were outsiders coming.

The visitor was Lin Tian, ​​but Wu Yi got up early today, and the cave door was wide open. After the dusty Lin Li went up the mountain, he saw Wu Yi standing at the door at a glance.

"Master, this is today's meal." Lin Li took out the lunch box from his back and put it on the stone table at the door.

Wu Yi nodded, picked up a pot of water and said to Lin Li: "Well, it's not easy for you to go up the mountain. There are not many treasures on the top of the mountain. This is the morning dew I have stored. It is sweet and refreshing. Although it is not very useful for your strengthening of muscles and bones, it can at least quench your hunger and thirst."

Lin Li took the kettle, took a sip, sorted out the lunch box left yesterday, and left.

Watching Lin Li's back, Wu Yi looked at the leaves on his head that had not been cleaned up and the shoes that were stained with a little red soil. His right hand stroked the fine hair on his chin, thinking.

After thinking for a long time, seeing that Lin was about to disappear from his sight, Wu Yi finally stood up and caught up with Lin Li in front at a leisurely pace.

The plank road passed a small bend, which was a blind spot on the mountain top. Lin Li looked around and made sure that there was no one there, then he got into the bushes nearby. Looking in the direction Lin Li was moving, he could vaguely see the bushes splitting apart. Some of the grass had tread marks, and the broken parts were dry, obviously not broken in the past one or two days.

Wu Yi, who was following behind Lin Li, saw this scene and had no intention of following him any further. He turned around and went back to his cave. Today was the time for a small class, so he had to tidy up his clothes. Wu Yi also roughly guessed the cause and effect.

It was not until today that Wu Yi understood that the reason Lin Li made the promise to him that he would not be late in the future was because he would go through the back mountain. Lingxiu Peak is steep and hundreds of feet high. There are only a dozen disciples there. Even if you count the servants brought by some of the disciples, there are no more than a hundred. The most important thing is that the disciples' residences are all in the sunny place on the south side of the mountain. In other words, the north side of the mountain is an uninhabited area. The north side of the mountain naturally becomes the back mountain. Wild beasts are rampant, poisonous miasma is everywhere, and the surface is red soil. There are often cases where disciples and their servants mistakenly enter the back mountain and never return.

Pushing this matter back, it is not difficult to have a question, why not have a well-built plank road, but choose an extremely dangerous road? Pushing it further will get an answer that makes Wu Yi extremely angry. Someone at the foot of the mountain blocked someone from delivering food to him, or at least delayed the time of delivering food to him.

"Is it so despicable? If it weren't for the kindness of Lin Li and his son, I would have been starved to death on the top of the mountain. You bastard, damn it." Wu Yi clenched his fists and muttered to himself.

"No," Wu Yi seemed to think of something, and clenched his right fist to hit his left hand, "Since there were people blocking the way at the foot of the mountain, how could Lin Tian, ​​the son of a strong man, deliver food under their noses? Those people must have done it intentionally and opened a loophole. No matter how brave these people are, they will never dare to deduct my food. Why did they do this?" Wu Yi fell into deep thought.

After a while, Wu Yi came out of the cave and went to the morning class. Along the way, he was still thinking about the purpose of those people, to anger him? Or did Lin Li use this self-torture trick to gain his trust? Before more evidence was obtained, Wu Yi could only choose to remain unchanged and wait for the development of the situation.

Because Wu Yi walked and stopped all the way to think about the problem after going out today, the call bell rang twice before he arrived at the hall. After sitting down, he found that the new disciples were full, but there was no old disciple. I don’t know if they got any news.

After the class, Wu Yi understood why the old disciples were unwilling to come one by one. It turned out that today’s lecture was about miscellaneous studies.

As the national religion of Dayu, Xiantian Yiqimen does not only rely on the immortal master to descend the law, but more on a group of people who have not achieved Taoism in the Taoist temple, teach miscellaneous studies, and rely on them to enter the court or serve as local gentry to help the sect control the court and the country.

The content of miscellaneous studies is all-encompassing, including chess, piano, calligraphy, painting, astronomy and geography. If you learn something, you can become a learned person, but for these disciples who are determined to cultivate immortals, they are naturally not interested and are listless.

After carefully looking at the professor on the stage, Wu Yi found that he was an old man with gray hair, his cloudy eyes narrowed into a line, and his body was hunched. Facing the lazy appearance of the disciples below, he did not care, and talked to himself, as if he had entered his own world.

Since Wu Yi entered the Yiqi Taoist Temple, this is his third time to listen to a lecture, but the previous professor talked about the method of cultivation. This content has been explained by all professors, but it is hard to guess who it is. However, Wu Yi has some guesses in his mind about the professor who will explain the miscellaneous knowledge today. It should be Professor Liu Zhiyun. It is said that he was a historian before he entered the Tao and was proficient in human affairs.

Although he was a little disappointed when he knew that it was not about the method of cultivation, as Liu Zhiyun's explanation on the stage deepened, Wu Yi listened attentively, relished it, and nodded and smiled from time to time.

The reason is simple. Before he fled Dayu, Wu Yi also learned these contents in the Imperial Academy. Compared with the immortal gate true method he first came into contact with, he was obviously more familiar with it, so he didn't listen to it half-heartedly and didn't know what it meant. Moreover, since Liu Zhiyun explained the things in Dayu, it could be compared with the original Daxuan Kingdom.

It must be said that Liu Zhiyun is still extremely talented. He is worthy of being a historian. In just two hours, he talked about everything from the establishment of the court of Dayu to the customs and customs of various states and counties. He can be said to know everything from astronomy to geography. But the disciples below were drowsy one by one. Wu Yi even heard a slight snoring behind him. It can be said that among the dozen disciples, only Wu Yi was really studying seriously.

When the class was over today, Wu Yi, who was still unsatisfied, found that it was over. The disciples around him hurriedly left after a hasty salute, which showed how impatient they were.

Just as Wu Yi was about to turn around and leave, a voice came from the stage: "Disciple Jiayou, wait a moment."

The positions in the hall were arranged according to the order of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, but since there were only 20 to 30 disciples in total, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches could not be arranged completely.

Counting the positions in the hall silently in his mind, Wu Yi was surprised to find that Liu Zhiyun on the stage was calling him. When he looked up, Liu Zhiyun looked at him with a kind face and a smile, stroking his beard with his right hand, looking like an immortal.

But at this moment, Wu Yi heard a disciple behind him say to another person: "The master is going to teach people to learn his miscellaneous knowledge again, but we have entered the immortal gate, so we should seek immortals and visit the way, where do we have the time to learn these."

The voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was enough for Wu Yi to hear it, and even with the sharp ears and eyes of a cultivator, Liu Zhiyun sitting on the stage might have heard it too.

Hearing these discussions, Wu Yi stood up without hesitation and walked to the front cushion. He performed a standard Taoist salute and asked respectfully: "Master, what instructions do you have?"

Observing Wu Yi's behavior, Liu Zhiyun nodded and stroked his beard, and asked: "I have never seen you before, but I am new here."

"Well, I was introduced to the mountain gate by Master Wang not long ago, and I have only attended two classes in total."

"So what level have you reached in your cultivation? Have you realized the sense of qi?"

Wu Yi smiled bitterly and said: "My disciple is dull, and I have missed many courses, so I have not gained anything so far."

Liu Zhiyun said, "Oh", and then stopped asking such questions. He changed the topic and said: "I saw that you seemed to have gained something in the previous class, but I have learned the content of miscellaneous studies before."

Wu Yi nodded and said: "Master, you are right. I am also an official, and I know something from what I have seen and heard since I was young."

"The most important thing in cultivation is to follow nature and have a proper balance between tension and relaxation. Since you have mastered miscellaneous knowledge, I have a book on miscellaneous knowledge here. Take it and read it after cultivation." Liu Zhiyun said as he pulled out a book from his sleeve. The cover page was yellowed, showing that it was a bit old. The corners were smooth, showing that the original owner took good care of it.

Wu Yi's eyes flickered, but he did not forget to take it with both hands, holding the book in front of his chest, and thanked him: "Thank you for the reward, Master."

"Go down." Liu Zhiyun waved his whisk and said lightly.

Wu Yi bowed, slowly stood up, and went out.

Before seeing Wu Yi being stopped by Liu Zhiyun, some disciples deliberately slowed down their pace. Those with sharp ears naturally heard the conversation inside. When they saw Wu Yi coming out with a book in his hand, they all had complicated eyes, and some even looked arrogant and could not hide their sarcasm.

Ignoring their gazes, Wu Yi went out frankly, with steady steps and expressionless face, which disappointed some people who wanted to laugh at him.