Nominal Disciple

Zhao Fengnian led him to sit on a stone bench in the courtyard and poured him a cup of tea. When the old man took the teacup with both hands, Liu Jin noticed his breathing rhythm. Each inhale was even and long, and each exhale was steady and deep. There was no deliberate manipulation; he simply naturally integrated his breathing into his every move.

This skill is unpretentious, yet far more solid than that of those who are captivated by mountains of gold and silver in the first illusionary realm.

Including the deer and the crow, there were six students in total. Liu Jin stood up from the bamboo chair, looked at the six beings who had come to seek the Dao in the courtyard, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

A dark-skinned boy determined to cultivate himself, a clever and daring little girl, a tiny child closely following his older brother, an old man with gray hair, a deer that can't even speak human language but has already passed the three trials, and a crow perched on the wall, observing everyone.

The lineup was even stranger than the three boys from the Trinity School's lower house back then, but he was very satisfied.

Liu Jin's gaze swept across their faces one by one before he spoke.

"The Sanyi Temple has a fundamental method called the 'Fire-Nourishing Sutra.' It involves absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to nourish oneself. Once the foundation is solid, one can cultivate the Samadhi Fire. If one masters this path, one can establish oneself in this world. The three trials before you test your character, will, and self-awareness. These are more important than innate talent, more important than comprehension, and more important than any skills you have learned before."

He paused, then added calmly, "But my own true skills haven't been fully developed yet, so I can't pass them on to you for now. Therefore, after you join my sect, you can only be considered nominal disciples. We'll talk about formally accepting you as disciples when my path is clear, or when your path has reached the point where you can receive my true teachings."

A moment of silence fell over the courtyard. The older boy was the first to kneel and kowtow, his forehead striking the bluestone slab with the same crisp sound as when he hit the stone steps during the second trial. The little girl followed suit, kneeling unsteadily, her knees hitting the stone slab and causing her to wince in pain, but she quickly straightened up.

Old Chen straightened his clothes and gave a proper bow. The fawn didn't know how to kneel; it simply stretched out its two front hooves, lowered its head, and touched the ground, its posture quite respectable. The crow folded its wings on the courtyard wall and lowered its head towards Liu Jin.

Zhao Fengnian stood at the entrance of the main hall and watched the whole scene unfold. He recalled how he had once knelt down in the Black Pine Forest, begging Liu Jin to take him in. Liu Jin had the same expression then, neither too close nor too distant, neither too warm nor too cold, but he had given him everything he needed.

He walked over and helped the children up from the ground, patted the dust off the older boy's knees, and whispered, "Let's go, I'll show you where you'll stay."

......

"Liu Jin has set the bar too high for nominal disciples. Six people have passed all three tests, yet not a single one has become a formal disciple."

"But he's telling the truth. He hasn't even finished his own path, his own Samadhi True Fire hasn't fully formed, how can he teach others?"

"The Fire-Gathering Scripture is sufficient for these children. If they cultivate it to its full potential by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, they would be able to stand on their own even in the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Not everyone needs to cultivate into a Fire-Swallowing Daoist."

"The deer and the crow also knelt down; it made me cry. How could the deer's front paws touching the ground be so perfectly formed?"

......

Zhao Fengnian led the six people, the six creatures, to the backyard. He clearly divided the meditation rooms: one room for the three children, one room for Old Chen, one room for the little deer alone, and a crow perched on a makeshift crossbar under the eaves.

Each meditation room had a new straw mat, a pot of wildflowers on the windowsill, and an oil lamp that had just been refilled on the low table by the bed. After the older boy entered the room, he first felt the thickness of the straw mat, and then helped his sister remove the straw clippings from her braids; the little one had already rolled around on the mat, and when he finished, he discovered a small dish of osmanthus cake hidden inside, and his eyes lit up immediately.

The next morning, before the sun had fully risen, the six disciples were already standing in the courtyard. The three children stood in a row, the older boy on the far right, the little girl in the middle, and the smallest one on the left. All three had changed into gray short-sleeved khakis that Zhao Fengnian had hastily made overnight, which barely fit them.

Old Chen stood half a step behind them, a deer lay at his feet, and a crow perched on the edge of the well. Morning light filtered through the pine forest and dappled the bluestone ground, casting long shadows of the group.

Liu Jin sat cross-legged on the stone steps in front of the main hall, his Taiyin gauze robe fluttering slightly in the morning breeze. He had written the first sentence of the Yunhuo Jing on paper and had Zhao Fengnian copy it six times; each of them held a copy now.

The older boy looked down at the words on the paper, his lips moving as he silently read them aloud. The little girl pointed to each word and read them aloud. The little boy didn't recognize many words, but his brother read them to him quietly, and he nodded along, whether he really understood or just didn't want to fall behind.

Old Chen held the paper in both hands, his fingertips trembling slightly. He had lived most of his life, and this was the first time he had been seriously taught cultivation techniques. The crow tilted its head and stared at the words on the paper with one eye for a long time, then turned its head to the other side and continued to look with the other eye.

The little deer had no paper. It lay quietly on the bluestone ground, its ears perked up as if listening attentively, its two dark eyes fixed on Liu Jin on the stone steps.

"The moonlight is like water, nourishing all things silently. Gather it with sincerity, and let the fire burn in your heart." Liu Jin's voice was not loud, but each word fell steadily and clearly in the morning light.

Zhao Fengnian leaned against the door frame of the main hall, holding a bowl of hot porridge in his hand, drinking it as he listened.

Mingxin sat on a futon in the main hall, listening through a curtain. He was familiar with the contents of the Fire Condensation Scripture; he had also collected moonlight when he practiced illusion magic in Laoshan. However, what Liu Jin was saying was completely different from what his master had taught him.

The same moon, but Laoshan teaches the foundation of illusion magic by using moonlight, while Sanyi Temple teaches the cultivation of a small flame within one's own heart by using moonlight. The paths are different, but both are equally solid.

He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing using the method of the Yunhuo Sutra. He felt that the imbalanced essence, energy, and spirit in his body seemed to loosen slightly, like parched land finally receiving a light rain.

Liu Jin's voice gradually softened, not becoming softer, but rather more distant. It was like the sound of wind coming from the depths of a bamboo forest, or like the moonlight itself speaking. He added a very faint trace of the Yin Fire to his tone, and the clear, cool moonlight slowly seeped into everyone's mind with his words.

This is not an illusion; it is simply using the breath of fire to calm the mind, helping these newly initiated disciples to gather their scattered thoughts and quickly enter the threshold of meditation.

The young man was the first to close his eyes. He sat cross-legged on the futon, his hands neatly placed on his knees, palms facing upwards. The posture was something Zhao Fengnian had taught him the night before; it wasn't quite perfect, but his earnestness was admirable.

The little girl followed his example and closed her eyes, but after a while she secretly opened them a crack to look at her brother next to her. Only after confirming that her brother was still there did she close them tightly again.

The little one couldn't sit still at all. He twisted his bottom several times, and finally simply lay down on the futon, buried his face in the straw mat, and mumbled, "I'm listening." This made Zhao Fengnian laugh silently behind the door frame, his shoulders shaking.