Chapter 44
Chapter 44
For sleep cultivation, one first lay on one’s side with the crown of the head pointing east.
The sun rose in the east, source of the vital qi of all creation!
One arm bent slightly beneath the head.
The other hand rested lightly over the navel to connect with the dantian.
The leg opposite the supporting arm extended straight–left leg for right arm, right leg for left arm.
The other leg curled inward.
That was the complete posture of sleep cultivation.
It resembled an infant, outwardly vulnerable and innocent.
It also required special breathing.
One inhaled deeply until the lungs could hold no more, then slowly exhaled until the chest was empty, repeating the cycle…
The mind remained pure and peaceful.
In eight words: the form of an infant, the heart of a child.
Old Cao explained carefully, demonstrated once, and told me to try it in bed.
Following his method, I unexpectedly lost consciousness within a second or two!
When I woke, dawn was near.
The rising sun shone into the room.
The battered wall clock read exactly 6:15. I had slept about forty-five minutes.
Yet I felt refreshed, all exhaustion from several hours earlier gone.
“Sleep cultivation truly is miraculous! Old Cao even taught me this ultimate secret. What did Master give him?”
I was curious.
Old Cao and I got along well and were becoming friends despite our ages, but two or three days of friendship would never make him surrender such knowledge!
Master’s gift had to be valuable enough to make him wholeheartedly care for me.
That made me miss Master again…
Only two days had passed since I came to town, yet it felt like ages since I saw her.
Leaving my room, I cheerfully greeted the paper figures that had cleaned for me, then hurried downstairs.
Old Cao was still asleep after the ordeal with the Duan corpse. I bought several meat buns from a nearby shop.
I left some for his breakfast and ate two while walking to school.
Near the bridge in western town, more students appeared in lively groups.
Perhaps I had matured too early, because my peers seemed like children.
That strange feeling made me enjoy school more–it helped me feel like a normal boy.
But Master was absent, proving one could not have everything…
As I reflected, Wang Dachun approached from the south, laughing with several lackeys.
Enemies truly met on narrow roads.
Seeing classmates nearby, I called loudly, “Brother Chun! I went to the school roof after evening study yesterday, but you never appeared. Did you turn into a dog that can’t climb stairs? Want to bark for us?”
“Hahaha!”
Students who knew about our conflict laughed, drawing curious looks from others.
Wang Dachun’s cheerful face turned green.
“What are you staring at? I’ll beat you!” he snapped at them, then faced me with less confidence. “You know I had diarrhea. The infirmary doctor prescribed medicine, and Zeng Jin took me home.”
I sneered. “Plenty of excuses. A spoiled brat’s promises are just like his farts.”
Ignoring him, I continued walking.
“No, listen! That’s not how it counts…”
He paced beside me in agitation. I treated him like a buzzing fly.
At morning study, our class recited English phonetics under a teacher’s guidance. Young voices greeted the sun, full of vitality.
Those were my middle-school years, when society at the end of the 1990s eagerly welcomed a new age…
…
For the next week, I attended school by day and studied coffin making and strange coffin types with Old Cao at night. It was mostly theory; no new procession appeared.
After all, deaths were not frequent in peaceful times.
In 1999, we had no Friday evening study, and school ended at three.
My heart had already flown back to Wujia Village.
After telling Old Cao, I shouldered my bag and went home.
It was not yet dinner when our familiar gate appeared.
“Mom, Dad, I’m home!”
“My little one is back!”
My mother leaned from the kitchen with a spatula and promised my favorite steamed pork with preserved vegetables for dinner.
My father rose from listening to the radio and hugged me tightly. “Have you studied hard?”
“Of course. I’ll rank first in next month’s exam.”
Grinning, I tossed him my bag and ran outside.
Where?
To see Master, naturally!
My mother called, “We’ll bring the Immortal Lady dinner soon. Wait until it’s ready and go with me!”
“I’ll visit first and come back for the food!”
I faintly heard her complain that I had forgotten my mother after gaining a master. She was joking, so I ignored it.
I ran along the village path to Master’s open door.
“Come in, Ah-Zhong.”
Master’s clear voice sounded from within, as though she expected me.
I entered with a grin. “Did you miss your disciple, Master?”
“One week in town and you’ve become glib? What will happen when you reach a great city?”
She pretended to frown.
But she looked eighteen or nineteen and was too beautiful to intimidate me unless truly angry.
“All right. I understand. I won’t.”
I nodded rapidly.
Half annoyed and half amused, she seated me and tested whether I had studied the feng shui books The Classic of Dwellings and The Book of Burial during the week.
She asked other metaphysical questions too, and I answered fluently.
Then I described school and the Duan family’s coffin procession with Old Cao and Big Bull…
Master sighed helplessly. “Your bazi and destiny truly attract strange misfortune.”
I scratched my head. I had been born that way!
“Master, may I ask something? I told you how I used talisman arts to punish Wang Dachun, and how I deliberately waited two seconds before destroying Miss Duan’s corpse with Old Cao’s flame blade made from divine paper. Was I…”
My voice dwindled, afraid she would scold me.
Old Cao had disapproved slightly and thought I crossed a line.
But besides my parents and Master, who could control me? I did not care!
To my surprise, Master laughed delightedly until her bright eyes curved like crescents.
I was utterly confused.
Why was my question making her so happy?
After laughing, she looked serious. “When you did those things, did your heart feel satisfied?”
I lowered my head and answered honestly. “Yes. Very.”
“Did you pretend to slip and delay killing the corpse for some filthy profit?”
“Of course not! There was no profit. I wanted justice. The police might have punished Miss Duan’s killers too lightly.”
“Then what wrong did you commit? None. You did the right thing. My arcane lineage acts without taboo, following the heart freely. We ask only whether our conscience is clear. Why care what others think? Ah-Zhong, you did very well. I am pleased.”
I stared at Master in shock!
I had expected a gentle warning against crossing boundaries, like Old Cao’s, or a scolding…
Supernatural Hong Kong movies were popular then.
Most zombie and ghost films claimed an esoteric practitioner must cultivate restraint, tolerate others, overlook wrongs, and remain kind.
Folk tales also said methods of the esoteric arts should not be used against ordinary people lest they cause backlash.
Old Cao probably believed that and advised me from kindness.
Master instead seemed to say: avenge hatred and repay grievances! Ignore everyone else, and do whatever you believed right and just!
She enunciated, “Ah-Zhong, remember what I said when you became my disciple?”
I thought. “Our lineage follows the heart and the natural Way. We care little for rigid, pedantic rules.”
As I spoke, I understood…
Master nodded. “I also said our arcane lineage is unpopular in the esoteric world. Now you understand. Evil sects call us righteous, while the self-proclaimed righteous consider us ruthless, vindictive, and too willful.”
“So nobody likes us?”
She laughed. “Do you regret it? Are you afraid?”
“Afraid? With Master beside me, I’d cross mountains of blades, seas of fire, even the Netherworld! If the esoteric world dislikes me, I dislike them too.”
I puffed out my chest and thumped it.
Master laughed again, approval shining in her eyes.
She probably thought she had chosen an excellent disciple.
Yes, I was that shamelessly conceited…
Then another question occurred to me. “Master, what if I become evil? What if a villain sincerely believes he is right and must do evil to satisfy his heart? If we stay true to our hearts, how can we know whether our hearts are good or bad?”