Zhan Dao Ji Chapter 1

“Master…” A young boy’s crisp and clear voice rang out from a distance. The voice was followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. “Master.” The boy stuck his head over the door’s threshold and peered inside.

His master was quietly sitting on the ground meditating silently, not even chanting the Buddhist sutras, and the boy ran into the room, his brows raised in delight and his eyes full of laughter, “Master, I didn’t catch the rabbit… but I’ll give you the mushrooms that I picked.”

The Old man sitting on the bed opened his eyes with a smile and said, “You don’t learn the sutras by running to find mushrooms. Although you aren’t a Buddhist, talking about eating a rabbit in front of me is showing no respect.” The old man snorted, but his face didn’t show even a hint of anger.

The young boy laughed and shook his head from side to side. “Master, I have already gone three months without eating meat…”

” You… This kid…” The old man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “In two days, your teacher’s friend will be coming over and he is a very religious man, so show a little respect, okay?”

“Master’s friend?”

The Old man didn’t answer. He slowly got up, went over to the door overlooking the entire mountain, and exclaimed, “Heavens, the whole nation is in chaos, to say nothing of a single mountain without a rabbit. Under the Zhao, where is any stability?”

Master, what did you say? The youth silently thought, but not daring to interrupt the master.

“Ye Sheng. You didn’t have a mother or a father. For you, as a teacher, I have looked for them but there have been no results. You were found on this temple’s entrance wrapped in nothing but a green leaf and that’s why you were named Ye Sheng.

“In two days, your Master’s friend will come and give you some advice so he can help you join a school. Naturally when practicing and learning The Way, you must remember to watch your att.i.tude.”

The Old master sighed, “Ye Sheng, because you aren’t a Buddhist, as a teacher, I have to make you go down this road…”

“Cultivation….” Ye Sheng quietly tightened his fists. Immortal… he had heard many of his seniors talk of it. Of course, it was unthinkable and unattainable for a normal mortal, but his eyes glowed, rich with antic.i.p.ation.

In the Zhao Dynasty, innumerable amounts of people were unaware of these school. These places were unreachable, and even among those few who arrived, many chose to quit.

Cultivation! It only exists as a legend amongst mortals and even though it is a single word, it contains many secrets.

People say, “Once the first man understands the way, others can follow.”

But they do not understand the difficulty and loneliness that comes with it.

Cultivators sharpen their minds and hone their qi.

Many want to be able to cultivate, but they must cut themselves off from the mortal world, including and all fame and fortune!

Yet those without perseverance and apt.i.tude should not even try!

So, if one has the ability to genuinely cultivate qi, then people would say they were tempering their will and refining their soul!

Because of this ability, the old man was allowing Ye Sheng to enter a school.

————————————

The next day, as Ye Sheng waited for the guest to arrive, a purple cloud appeared in the east, and a young man with long hair fluttering in the wind appeared, arriving in front of Ye Sheng in the blink of an eye!

The arriving youth faced Ye Sheng and saluted.

“The disciple greets his master!”

Ye Sheng was stunned, he turned around and saw his master coolly standing behind him.

Seeing the youngster the old man opened his eyes and spoke. “Zhou Tong, now that you have entered the ranks of the cultivators you no longer have to call me Master.”

Zhou Tong shook his head and said, “Zhou Tong will never be ungrateful towards Master, for the rest of my life. This, this is my dedication!”

The Old man went silent and sighed. “Fine, if you have such thoughts then I cannot stop you, but let me thank you and hope you will have many achievements…”

Zhou Tong listened to the old man, and then turned his head towards Ye Sheng.

“Is this the child?”

Ye Sheng did not look into his eyes; he felt that within the youngster’s eyes any secret of his could be revealed.

The Old man sighed, “Zhou Tong, if you honor me, then you must not treat this boy too rudely.”

Zhou Tong smiled when he heard those words, and he glanced away before  bowing to show his respect and looked away.

“Is it not proper to return his respect?” The old master shouted at Ye Sheng.

“Ye Sheng pays his respects!” Ye Sheng looked at his master’s expression, bit his lip, and then bowed. “Ye Sheng greets Senior Zhou.”

Zhou Tong’s eyes flashed with emotion before he could hide it and told Ye Sheng, “No need to be so courteous. Junior brother, if you have the determination and willpower, then I will a.s.sist you.”

Zhou Tong turned to the master and said, “Master, Junior brother, this time I have one more mission to complete for my school. Junior brother, wait here for a few days and prepare. After I finish my mission, I will come back and together we shall return to the school, okay?”

“Good, this is very good.” The old man nodded, “You can go. I and your Junior brother will wait for you to return.”

When Zhou Tong heard this statement, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

He dared not to go against his old master’s word and, with a bow, he stomped on the ground and vanished to his destination.

This person….

Ye Sheng in his mind pondered about what had just happened.

This year, he was already 14 years old. Previously, many people had climbed the mountain to have their fortunes read and because of this he quickly learned how to observe people through their actions and their speech!

This Zhou senior of his acted polite to his master, but it seemed a bit unnatural. First, he highly regarded the master but not the disciple. He looked like one who is concerned but is in fact, truly stingy! This could be seen from his unchecked probing! No matter what, Ye Sheng had decided, he would not get on his senior’s bad side.

“Ye Sheng, what are you thinking about?” The master asked.

Ye Sheng shook his head, “Nothing”

“I know you are thinking of something. There is no harm in saying it.”

Ye Sheng looked at his master, and then he glanced in the direction Zhou Tong had left in. Nevertheless he shook his head.

“Ye Sheng,” the master said, with a hint of anger in his voice, “I know you are curious. If not for the requirements restricting him, how could he possibly ask to allow you in for free? Such a trivial matter….”

The old man wanted to persuade him and leaned closer, but since Ye Sheng refused to speak, he sighed and sat back.

Ye Sheng looked up inquisitively to see what his master was trying to do.

Though it seemed that his master’s eyes held a lack of emotion, they were as truly as deep as the ocean, so Ye Sheng could do nothing but give up on trying to understand him.

“Ye Sheng, you remember.” The old man had a serious look, but a rare sight in his eyes betrayed his thoughts. “I single-handedly raised you, and I know you how much you love to have fun, but I also know that you are a smart kid.

“Do not trust others easily and you must not treat others unfairly…”

Ye Sheng quickly nodded his head.

Suddenly Ye Sheng asked, “Master… will I not be able to return?”

“The school has its rules.”

“But…”

“Child, you must remember, cultivating is an unpredictable road. And it is also a long one.”

The Old man lowered his hands and pressed his prayer beads into Ye Sheng’s hand.

“Here, take these, but do not take them out in front of others unless it is a life or death situation. Otherwise there will be a terrible disaster!

“When you cultivate yourself, I will look for you.”

When he finished speaking, he got up and walked away.

Ye Sheng looked around blankly, until he understood his master’s words..

“In three days, your Senior brother Zhou Tong will come for you. You must prepare your clothes so when he comes you will be ready to go.”

“Master! What about you?” Ye Sheng shouted. “Master… I’ll be gone for a long time…”

Ye Sheng packed many of his clothes in a rattan box and laid the beads his master had given him onto the pile of clothing.

Ye Sheng did not know where to hide the beads his master had given him.

Thinking about it, Ye Sheng took a strip of cloth and got up to pick some oranges. After he had the oranges, he wrapped both the necklace and the oranges together into a package and put it into his clothes.

Only then did he feel at ease.

————————————

After two days, Ye Sheng went to his master’s room to go look for some things but there wasn’t anybody in the room.

Ye Sheng thought quickly and then dashed into the mountains.

In between two pine trees, Ye Sheng took three steps east and then glanced around to make sure no one was looking. He started to dig.

After 15 minutes, Ye Sheng found what looked like a broken pot. Ye Sheng immediately dug it out of the ground. He quickly held the pot up, looked around him and quickly wiped the soil off of the pot.

Ye Sheng had found this pot more than a month ago in the caves of the mountain. Whenever Ye Sheng had picked up the pot he had always felt strange. When he was in the mountain caves, he had found the pot half buried in the earth with a mysterious s.h.i.+ne!

And when he saw the s.h.i.+ne, Ye Sheng was so ecstatic that he dug it out immediately and thought that he had found a priceless treasure, but the light that was wrapped around the pot had no effect,.  Yet he had found that only when the pot was buried in the ground for long periods of time there would be some light, but it was useless. The light did not do anything.

Ye Sheng was unable to believe that somebody would just throw it away, but he was unwilling to part from it himself. So when he ran away from the mountains, he buried it here.

Ye Sheng pondered what to do with the pot and in the end decided to carry it out with him.

—————————————————————-

Within the Temple’s room.

Ye Sheng, holding the jar, slipped back into the room. He was a bit sad when he recalled the earlier heydays in the temple, when he had many brothers.  But now they were gone and the temple was empty.

The Zhou Dynasty was in troubled times, so who would come to the temple in the mountains for their fortune?

The temple’s aim was to give each person an opportunity, but now that it was empty, they would just find themselves in an awkward situation.

He returned to his room and tried to repress his sad thoughts. He wanted to find a place to put this pot.

The jar didn’t look like much, but it was an antique and had a strange attraction to it.

Ye Sheng carefully looked over the pot and tried to figure out what he would do with it. After all, whose pot was this? And who would even want to steal it?

So with that in mind, he still wrapped it up and looked for a vase that was a little bigger than the pot. And when he stuffed the pot inside the vase, he was surprised it fit.

Ye Sheng jumped twice with happiness as the pot settled into place, only now did he feel relief.

For the remaining period of 2 days, Ye Sheng spent his time strolling around the temple, as if he truly wanted to memorize the place by heart.

He knew that his one walk would the last for a long time. He did not know when he would be able to return.

On the third morning, Ye Sheng waited on the hill.

It wasn’t until noon that Zhou Tong appeared.

“Where is your master?”

Ye Sheng noticed that Zhou Tong had said “your master” and not “master.”

Ye Sheng quietly stated, “He went out on a long journey.”

Hearing this, Zhou Tong’s eyes opened with a hint of mockery.

“In that case, you will come with me.” Zhou Tong didn’t even glance at Ye Sheng as he grabbed him in a large and intangible grip. With the cold wind blowing through his hair, Ye Sheng flew up into the air.

“Senior.” Ye Sheng did not panic and pointed towards the ground. “There are two suitcases full of clothes…”

“Humph!” Zhou Tong coldly snorted. “If you are a cultivator, you do not need to worry about mortal things. Why did you bring so many useless clothes!”

Ye Sheng looked at Zhou Tong in the eye and calmly said, “Those are the things Master told me to bring.”

Zhou Tong looked a little uneasy and his face changed a little. It seemed like he was about to speak, but he just coldly looked at Ye Sheng. With the wave of a hand the suitcases flew up to them.

“Where did your master go?”

“I don’t know.” Ye Sheng answered. Thinking about it, he added, “Before master left, he said you will return between three days or a few months.”

Zhou Tong’s face clouded and he pondered, and spoke no more. He then took Ye Sheng and flew into the distance.

“Here at the School, you must not speak loudly! You cannot treat your Senior Sisters and Brothers rudely! And you must not be arrogant!”

Ye Sheng nodded his head and agreed.

Zhou Tong said, “We, the at this school, are called the 6 Truth School! 6 Truths, 2 Symbols! The Reincarnation of the 6 Truths! I, your senior brother, am one of its members! These… When you enter the school you will understand. Inside the school, there will be some testing, and if you pa.s.s you will become an outer division disciple.”

Zhou Tong told Ye Sheng, and tried to give him a Jade Pendant but did not know where to give it to Ye Sheng.

Ye Sheng quickly put out his hand.

“When the time comes, you must give this Jade Pendant to the Outer Division Tester, and he may be able to allow you to skip the test. After the test and your advancement, if there are still problems, come to the Inner Sect and find me!

“Do not say I didn’t warn you! In the Outer Division, there are many killings just to take someone’s treasure! This is outside of the School’s control! Only when you become an Inner Sect Disciple will the school place any importance on you.”

“You must be careful”

Ye Sheng nodded his head.

Zhou Tong no longer spoke, and with a wave of his hand they started slowing down and the wind’s whistling was no longer as loud. They had arrived.