Chapter 105: Lesson 100

Being one rank higher in officialdom can suppress a person.

Although Zhang Rongfang was not directly in charge of their department, he was a close friend of the Li family’s young master.

The dispute with Miss Lin Qixiao at the time was also spread far and wide as a topic of idle chatter.

Soon, the officials responsible for inspecting the safety of the buildings with water recognized Zhang Rongfang’s identity.

The several persons quickly stepped forward to salute.

“Team Leader Zhang, we were ordered to inspect for safety hazards around here, and unwittingly arrived at this spot.” The person who spoke earlier explained with a smile.

“Finished checking? I still want to browse the shop.” Zhang Rongfang was expressionless.

“Finished, finished. We are done, we will leave immediately.”

The several officials did not want trouble, not to mention Zhang Rongfang already had a deep background and formidable martial skills.

Just his position was enough. The Department of Prisons, what kind of place was that?

It might be anytime that they would need something from him.

The several quickly left their names, turned, and headed to the next location.

Only then did Zhang Rongfang turn to the blond elder.

“Shopkeeper, show me some old things.”

He hadn’t found any Cultivation of Literature manuals in the bookstore, which left him a bit disappointed, hoping to find something here.

“Please come in, please!” The elder sighed with relief, expressing gratitude toward him.

These outsiders, who looked different from the Great Spirit People, were heavily discriminated against here.

Among the four classes of Great Spirit People, Spirit People and Huxi people were robust and tall, traditionally looking down on these smaller Westerners.

This discrimination is evident in many aspects of life.

The safety-checking officials were just one example.

Under the guidance of the shop owner, Zhang Rongfang entered the shop.

The shop was filled with items adorned with the symbols of a cross-centered religion.

On the counter lay a bulky bronze-covered book, with strange letters on its cover that Zhang Rongfang couldn’t recognize.

He took a walk around, mostly seeing clock-like items.

What surprised him was that there were already clocks at this time.

However, the clocks of this period were large.

The smallest one was the size of a watermelon.

Apart from the clocks, he was attracted by an assortment of small trinkets on the countertop.

“What are these?”

Zhang Rongfang walked over to the counter to examine the items closely.

A variety of mechanical-like parts in different sizes were neatly arranged on grey cloth.

He picked one up and examined it; it was the size of an egg, resembling a Rubik’s cube with a black notch.

“These are antiques I collected from my hometown, real antiques!” The blond elder introduced in a somewhat peculiar accent.

“If you want to buy, I’ll give it to you for half price!”

“Antiques?” Zhang Rongfang frowned, he’d never seen such antiques.

His eyes, constantly scanning the attributes section, swept over the miscellaneous clutter.

Apart from the mechanical-like parts, some other items were placed on the edges of the gray cloth.

Among them were ancient shells, certain animal horns, dried plants with sharp serrated edges.

And a half-written stone book with unknown symbols.

And so on.

Suddenly his vision paused, his pupils slightly dilating.

The attributes section responded!

Zhang Rongfang picked up the item that triggered the attributes section, appearing nonchalant.

It was a stone-like orb, its surface covered in characters resembling Buddhist Sanskrit.

The attributes section displayed the text.

’Intuition Alert: This seems to be a part of a Taoist sculpture, which is now destroyed into fragments. As a person of the Taoist sect, once you collect it completely, perhaps you could try bowing before it….’

What on earth??

Zhang Rongfang was stunned, bowing?

Could this be some sort of deity statue?

But even if it were, would bowing to it cause some divine phenomenon?

He couldn’t comprehend it.

However, as the second-in-command of the Golden Wing Pavilion in Tan Yang, he had access to a lot of recorded intelligence material.

He could thoroughly review them when he returned.

In the Great Spirit, to this day, he had never heard of any extraordinary events occurring.

So, he felt it was unlikely to be a divine manifestation, but more a mechanism within the item that required bowing to unlock.

“How much for this?” He picked up the stone orb and asked the shopkeeper.

“This isn’t worth much, I’ll gift it to you!” The shopkeeper generously offered.

This item was actually collected locally from the countryside, not brought from his hometown, so he decided not to charge for it.

But Zhang Rongfang insisted on leaving a couple of silver coins before departing with the stone orb.

Despite scanning through the shop, only the stone orb triggered the attribute section.

With the stone orb, he continued browsing, visiting three more stores selling similar peculiar items.

But none of them triggered any reaction.

Zhang Rongfang was unsure of what exactly caused the attribute section’s supernatural ability to react.

If he couldn’t encounter it outside, he’d have to see at the upcoming old book exchange event.

Returning home, he placed the orb and Golden Seal Pill together in a locked box.

Then came waiting, healing, and searching for information on the orb within the Golden Wing Pavilion.

In his leisure time, he practiced Void Observation Skill, hoping to improve a layer without using attribute points.

Void Observation Skill emphasizes inhaling once and exhaling nine times, gradually letting the breath release.

The realm division is quite simple, starting with refining essence into energy, then accumulating it until a certain magnitude, before opening up the body’s minor and major circulation meridians, then attempting Foundation Establishment, Core Formation.

Once the Core Formation succeeds, the core must undergo Ninth Transformation, after which the ninth transformation achieves the Golden Core.

After the Golden Core is broken and transformed into the Nascent Soul, upon achieving the Nascent Soul, the spirit returns to the void.

Zhang Rongfang took out the manual again, thoroughly reading all the Void Observation Skill material.

The content was elaborately explained.

Each stage is marked by inner vision and bodily sensations.

However, the manual only records the first layer in detail, the rest are just brief introductions.

“This inner vision… what is it exactly?”

At first, he only learned the first layer of the Void Observation Skill through the teachings of his initial master, Xiao Rong, taught through words and demonstration. The subsequent cultivation techniques still needed to be learned at the Great Dao Teaching.

Since he needed to determine his life attribute, he had to perfect his cultivation technique first.

Coincidentally, he also planned to apply for a position back at the Dao Palace.

After practicing the Void Observation Skill once more, Zhang Rongfang picked up a pen and wrote an application letter, preparing to present it later to his superior team commander.

He also needed to visit Mingjing Palace to make arrangements.

In the evening, after dinner, he returned to Mingjing Palace again.

For this lesson in the Void Observation Skill, he intended to find the Miling Daoist, Wang Bude.

This fellow would teach anything as long as he was paid, a service that could be considered thoroughly convenient and exceptional.

Their previous cooperation had gone smoothly from start to finish.

The night had just fallen.

There were sounds of chanting scriptures drifting from within Mingjing Palace.

Zhang Rongfang entered through the palace gate, inquired along the way, and finally found Wang Bude, who was playing chess and chatting in a chess room beside the Dusk Drum Pavilion.

“Junior Brother Zhang? What’s up? Here to buy lessons from me again?” As soon as Wang Bude saw Zhang Rongfang, his eyes lit up, and he stood up.

“Hey, you’re not done with your game yet, don’t leave!” protested an elderly Daoist from across, grabbing his sleeve.

“Forget the stupid game; making money is more urgent.” Wang Bude pulled his sleeve away unabashedly and approached Zhang Rongfang.

Zhang Rongfang glanced around the chess room, which was full of elderly men with gray hair, both Kun Dao and Dry Dao.

Among them were quite a few young Daoist attendants.

He withdrew his gaze and cupped his hands in salute to Wang Bude as he approached.

“Senior Brother Wang, I’ve come this time hoping to learn the complete Void Observation Skill from you.”

“Void Observation Skill?” Wang Bude rubbed his chin, “You’re asking the wrong person for this job. I’m not very skilled at it myself. I’ve only reached the Grand Circulation Realm so far.”

“Only the Grand Circulation?” Zhang Rongfang was taken aback.

After refining essence into qi, it’s the Small Circulation and then the Grand Circulation, meaning this is the third layer of the Void Observation Skill.

After the Grand Circulation comes Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nine-Turn Golden Core, Nascent Soul…

It was indeed far from complete.

“Looks like I won’t be making money on this deal,” Wang Bude said regretfully. “You’re young and not a prodigy; aren’t you good at martial arts? Aren’t you worried about wasting your time learning literary cultivation?”

He looked at Zhang Rongfang in disbelief.

“Ah… I’ve recently injured my body while training. It’s complicated… I heard literary cultivation is the best for recuperation, so…” Zhang Rongfang made up an excuse.

“Ah~~~ injured, huh…” Wang Bude nodded in understanding, drawing out his response.

“Go find Xu Yi. He’s in the mid-Nascent Soul stage now, the most advanced in Mingjing Palace.”

Xu Yi Daoist is one of the three teaching masters in Mingjing Palace.

With a cold and detached nature, he has no desires or ambitions, focusing solely on cultivating the Void Observation Skill.

He’s now over seventy and doesn’t even manage his family’s affairs, burying himself in his small building, going nowhere else.

“Will Xu Yi Daoist be willing to entertain me?” Zhang Rongfang hesitated.

“He’s not willing in most cases, but when it comes to health and wellness topics, he enjoys discussing them with others,” Wang Bude replied, shaking his head.

With a strong sense of service, he led Zhang Rongfang out of the chess room.

They crossed the martial arts practice ground and found Xu Yi Daoist in a courtyard where two loquat trees were planted, practicing his breathing exercises.

“Senior Brother Xu Yi, a junior brother seeks to learn the Void Observation Skill from you,” Wang Bude called into the courtyard.

By moonlight, Zhang Rongfang peered inside.

He saw a very skinny, short old man dressed in a Daoist robe much too big for him, wearing a jade lotus flower crown, sitting cross-legged under a loquat tree.

“Learn the Void Observation Skill?” The old Daoist slowly opened his eyes, examining Wang Bude’s sole companion, Zhang Rongfang.

“Very well, let him in,” he said flatly.

“Okay, I’ll head back,” Wang Bude said, turning to leave after guiding the way.

For a non-paying job, he’d done quite enough.

Only then did Zhang Rongfang salute Xu Yi properly.

“Junior Zhang Ying here, seeking advice from Master Xu Yi, to be taught the full Void Observation Skill.”

“The full Void Observation Skill?” Xu Yi’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes scrutinized Zhang Rongfang intently.

“Do you truly wish to learn?”

He was skeptical, as young people these days rarely had the energy to study literary cultivation.

After all, martial arts can protect oneself, while literary cultivation takes a long time to show results.

“Disciple sincerely wishes to learn; I humbly ask for your guidance, Senior Brother Xu Yi.” Zhang Rongfang once again saluted earnestly.

Xu Yi silently observed him.

“Have you practiced before?”

“A little bit,” Zhang Rongfang quickly replied.

“Then I’ll test you,” Xu Yi said, doubting his claim, and walked a circle around Zhang Rongfang.

“What is ’Void Room Creates White’?”

“It’s when white light appears in a room!” Zhang Rongfang responded swiftly.

“Wrong!” Xu Yi shouted, “It means an empty mind, leading to the generation of Dao!”

“What is inner vision?” he asked again.

“It allows observation of one’s internal organs!” Zhang Rongfang answered again.

“Wrong! It’s the vision seen with closed eyes!” Xu Yi shouted once more.

“What is nectar?”

“It’s… fine wine?!” Zhang Rongfang hesitated slightly.

“Wrong!!” Xu Yi shouted, spitting into his hand with a snapping sound.

He showed the spit in his hand to Zhang Rongfang.

“This is nectar!”

Sip~~~

He lowered his head and sucked the saliva back into his mouth.

“…” Zhang Rongfang.

He suddenly wondered if he had made the wrong choice in deciding to learn the Void Observation Skill….

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep