Chapter 112 — Five Stars Split the Wall

"Young Master, this music of yours is mixed with a great many things!

" Fu Qingyun plucked lightly and stroked slowly, opening the contest with a gentle melody, and at once she had sounded out what lay hidden in Shen Mu's music. Hidden within it were Buddhist notes, demonic notes, and divine notes — a most peculiar thing — and there was the killing intent of war as well, so that it seemed sabers flashed and sword-shadows danced, so that it seemed to gallop and race. The Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture of the Nether Demon Sect contained a chapter on music, but nothing so intricate and fragmentary as this.

She could hear, in Shen Mu's music, a technique of the Nether Demon Sect's music arts called the Heavenly Demon's Rainbow Robe Melody — yet that was only one part of what he played. Clearly Shen Mu had fallen into a marvelous state and could not tear himself free; he must be comprehending something deeper, striving to knead all these things into one. Having divined his true intent, Fu Qingyun set her heart at ease.

Such a state of madness and demonic obsession was rare indeed, to be touched only in the deepest layers of enlightenment. Without madness there is no living; without madness there is no Buddhahood.

Fu Qingyun cradled her pipa, and the notes flying from her fingertips grew urgent; she was trying to guide Shen Mu, to make his ten thousand methods flow into one channel and complete the fusion.

Those girls of the Rain-Listening Pavilion who had earlier matched music and melody against him had only been making mischief, and yet they had helped him greatly, forcing him to perfect his music again and again through opposition and pressure.

She, by contrast, guided and opposed him at once, so that he might fuse more surely and swiftly.

Her attainment in music was exceedingly high, surpassing the Rain-Listening Pavilion girls by far, and with her to guide him and press him, Shen Mu advanced by leaps and bounds. And his use of the Heavenly Demon's Rainbow Robe Melody in his playing benefited her deeply as well.

The Rainbow Robe Melody was a technique within the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture; Fu Qingyun had been taught it, but not in full. Even as she instructed Shen Mu, she took instruction from him, learning the parts of the melody she had never been given.

After a long while, Fu Qingyun saw that Shen Mu was gradually emerging from his state of madness; their two musics merged, and together they played a single piece, dragon and phoenix in harmony.

But just then a dozen or so girls came bustling out of the rooms carrying a great bell — a bell taller than a man — with Xue Hu'er perched atop it, crying, "If we all ring the bell together, we're sure to blast apart his demonic music.

. . " Fu Qingyun stopped playing, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and scolded, "Do you mean to blast the young master to death? What nonsense — put that bell back!

" The girls drooped in disappointment and hauled the bell away again; Xue Hu'er drooped as well, plainly unhappy that she had not been allowed to bombard Shen Mu with it. Shen Mu came to his senses and looked around in astonishment; only then did he realize what a commotion he had raised, and he hurried to apologize to Fu Qingyun.

"The little girls do not know better, and they nearly ruined the young master's cultivation. Pray do not hold it against them. " Fu Qingyun smiled.

"The young master has not eaten yet? You have been at this all night — it is nearly dawn.

" Shen Mu hastily summoned the little fox spirit who could not abide a peaceful world, and they went off together to eat. The brocade-robed youth gathered up the unfinished dishes, then took the empty bowls and plates away and washed them clean; seeing this, several girls hurried over to snatch them from him, saying, "How could the young master do such coarse, lowly work?

Leave it to us.

" Shen Mu smiled.

"The Dao knows no noble and no base — how then could labor?

I have already washed them clean; there is no need for you to dirty your hands again.

" Fu Qingyun asked, "What realm is the young master at now? " Shen Mu's hands burst into flame, burning the water from them.

"Still the Spirit Embryo realm," he said.

Fu Qingyun frowned slightly; the Spirit Embryo realm was rather too low, and entering the Imperial Academy would be very difficult.

Even when the Academy made an exception and admitted a scholar, it was usually a Warrior Master who had opened the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury.

With the Spirit Embryo realm alone, she feared he could not pass the Academy's examination. She had assumed he was at least at the Five Luminaries realm — after all, when she first met him three years ago, he had already been at the Spirit Embryo realm — and she had never imagined that in three years he had made no progress at all.

What she did not know was that though his realm had not risen, his cultivation had advanced enormously: his Spirit Embryo had awakened four times, the four great qi circulated freely, and the vigor of his qi was outstanding even among Warrior Masters.

"There are still two days until the Imperial Academy opens its gates. The young master ought to attempt to break through the wall, and do his utmost to succeed within those two days.

" So Fu Qingyun spoke, yet her heart was uneasy; to break through the wall in two days was truly asking too much of a man, all but impossible. Shen Mu nodded and smiled. "In two days I will surely break through!

" Fu Qingyun shooed the girls away. "For these two days, none of you are to trouble the young master.

Little fox, you stay away as well — let him comprehend to his heart's content. " Xue Hu'er had no choice but to leave with them, and as she went, the girls said to the little fox, "Sister Ling'er, we will teach you the arts of enchantment — such fun.

.

. " Ever since Shen Mu had come out of the Wasteland Ruins, he had been striving to break open the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury and enter the Five Luminaries realm; these past days, poring painstakingly over the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture, he had gained no small insight.

The Scripture held the secret of opening the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury, and in it was written: "Forgetting form to nourish qi is the golden liquid; facing the scene with no mind is the great return. Forgetting form transforms qi, qi transforms spirit — this is the great Dao piercing the Three Passes.

The Crimson Palace blazes, a crescent-moon furnace; the Spirit Embryo sits still in the great Mystic Altar. Cinnabar is the blood of the red phoenix; quicksilver is the liver of the black turtle.

Golden lead is gathered into the earth cauldron; wood-mercury flies and dwells in the Mud Pill. The Flower Pool lies within the Sea of Qi; the Spirit Chamber lies within the Yellow Court.

" The golden liquid is the golden light within the golden sea of the Primordial Embryo Divine Treasury.

The Spirit Embryo sitting still in the great Mystic Altar — this Shen Mu had already refined; in his Primordial Embryo Divine Treasury the golden sea was emptied, his qi circulated, and beneath the Spirit Embryo's body the seal of the Mystic Altar had taken form.

Now in that treasury there remained only a Mystic Altar woven of qi array patterns, and at its center the Spirit Embryo. The Five Luminaries Divine Treasury is also called the Five Elements Divine Treasury; it lies between the two breasts and belongs to the heart, and the heart is also called the Crimson Palace.

The cinnabar and quicksilver of the Scripture are all metaphors.

Cinnabar stands for fire, quicksilver for water, golden lead for metal, wood-mercury for wood, and the earth cauldron for earth, corresponding to the Five Luminaries: the Fire Luminary Yinghuo, the Water Luminary Chenxing, the Metal Luminary Qiming, the Wood Luminary Suixing, the Earth Luminary Zhenxing.