Chapter 182 - The Will of the Grandmaster
It was snowing. The Five Peaks of Qing Xuan were shrouded in clouds. Rays of different colors shot out from within and dispersed the smoke-like clouds. These rays formed beautiful intersections in the sky.
The colored rays were all of different colors and intersected with each other, and they brought some liveliness to the quiet sect. Qing Xuan had not seen such liveliness in a long time.
Partially, it was due to the cold and detached nature of a Daoist. Though, the fact that Qing Xuan had been walking on a downward slope contributed to it too.
There were the least rays coming from Tianyuan and Zifu Peak. These two peaks were where the strongest in Qing Xuan resided. The rays were light, and most people rode in the wind. As for the disciples from Qingliang and Yuyang, they were mainly relying on instruments. Qingliang was the lower house, and there were not many disciples there. On the other hand, Yuyang was the upper house and had a lot of disciples. They had come as a big group.
The headcount was actually less than one hundred and fifty. This was an uncommon occurrence for one of the four main Daoist sects.
Rays and clouds reached the Hall of Qing Xuan as disciples of Qing Xuan arrived. They were all dressed differently, and only a few wore Daoist robes.
The people started streaming in. Some of them were old and wrinkly, and some were young and attractive. The older ones were not necessary the elder-teachers, while the younger ones might even have grand disciples below them. The best of cultivators would always look under forty of age regardless of how numbered their days were. It was normal for those who had put an effort in their looks to have the appearance of a teenager.
However, most cultivators did not care much about their looks. They would just let things take its natural course, and with their strong mana, the aging process was slowed down anyway.
The Huandan cultivators who looked old were those who attain the state of Huandan at a later stage in life. To preserve their Qi and blood, they had used techniques to store their Qi and blood and made themselves look old. After they had attained the state of Huandan, they just could not be bothered to correct it. The reason why they needed to preserve their Qi and blood was because Huandan concerned the engagement of Qi by the Yin spirit. This Qi was not the normal Qi from cultivation, but also include one"s Qi of Vigour, Qi of Essence, and one"s innate Qi of Vitality. The Yin spirit could not engage the Qi if there was an insufficiency with them.
This was why most cultivators would not give up hopes on attaining the state of Huandan until their last breath. They would store their Qi and blood to look old, but they were actually br.i.m.m.i.n.g with life.
There were more normal disciples who had not attained the state of Huandan than the elders who had attained Huandan. The upper house had ten over times more disciples than the lower house. However, the upper house only outnumbered the lower house by ten over people if one were to look only at those who had attained the state of Chushen and Ruhua. This was because there were only ten over disciples in the lower house.
Those who managed to get into the lower house were a lot better than those from the upper house in terms of potential and established practices. Few hundred years back, before the tragedy befell Qing Xuan, most of the cultivators who attained the Sixth Transformation of Huandan and above were mainly from the lower house.
This was because the disciples from the lower houses were drawn to Qing Xuan by some form of trigger than even they did not notice. In fact, the disciples from lower houses might be amongst the rank of Celestials in one of their previous reincarnations.
To look into the history, since Grandmaster Yuanqing, there were almost thirty-three generations now. There were a total of forty immortal Zhenrens, and roughly six or seven amongst them were once the likes of Dixian or Guixian in their past lives. However, after the many cycles of reincarnation, they could no longer recall their past lives and had become someone new.
For these people, even if they managed to recover their memories from their past lives, the disturbance they would face would be significantly lesser.
If Qing Xuan fell out of the rank of four main Daoist sects, its fate would go rapidly downhill. Those prospective disciples with great potential might not have chosen to come to Qing Xuan anymore.
Meanwhile, the reason why only ten disciples were admitted into the lower house was because ten was the end of all numbers. It was extreme, and it was also one of the most ancient symbols in the world. It signified completeness.
As for why Qing Xuan chose to take in disciples once in every fifty years, it was because fifty was the number of Dayan. "Dayan" signified the changes in the heavens and earth, and the "Number of Dayan" was the number used to project these changes.
With the changes that took place once every fifty years, "ten people" were obtained – a sign of how things had turned extreme. From there on, it showed how ingenious the rule set by Grandmaster Yuanqing was. Moreover, it showed how persistent Grandmaster Yuanqing was, reflecting the Daoist"s philosophy that "Instead of being full of oneself, one should stop at the right time; It is hard to s.h.i.+ne at one"s brightest for a prolonged period of time. Gold and riches, these are impossible to hold on to; if one were excessively arrogant and proud of one"s riches, one would merely be planting the seeds of calamity. It is only natural for one to be obsessed with one"s position and achievements after achieving greatness".
As for the act of "opening the mountain gate" and setting up the "Wenxin Road", they were merely to mask the ingenuity of the greater picture.
Shen Lian gained these insights after he had received the inheritance of the chief. Even though the outsiders remained unaware, all of the previous chiefs were aware of this.
As compared to Chen Jianmei"s code of Dao, there were five more Huandan elders now. However, none of them had attained the state of Huandan through their own abilities. The best amongst them had attained merely Four Transformations of Huandan.
Shen Lian felt all of the information within moments. Though, he did not use his telepathy; it was merely the feedback from Tiandi Jian. Tiandi Jian was like radar that reflected the different spiritual vibrations in his heart. Of course, those without much spiritual force would not appear in his heart. Meanwhile, the low spiritual force that was negligible would be filtered out automatically.
The wonders of Tiandi Jian were not limited to this, and Shen Lian was already benefited greatly from experiencing merely one of them.
Shen Lian could not synchronize entirely with Tiandi Jian, and it could only be partially synchronized and utilized with the Mark of the Chief acting as the token. It would not be as handy and convenient as compared to using one"s personal magic talisman.
If the mark on the magic talisman was too strong, it would be difficult to pa.s.s it on to the successor.
Moreover, the magic talisman was different from an instrument. The former had a spirituality to it, and it could be seen as an independent living creature.
Regardless of how strong an instrument was, if the spirituality could not be converted into solid spiritual wisdom and harbored independent consciousness, it could not be considered as a magic talisman.
The Mark of the Chief was a token, and one could easily receive recognition from the Tiandi Jian with it. This form of recognition was ingrained in it back when it was created, and it was an absolute rule.
Shen Lian stood next to the chief, the red mark between his brows shone brightly like a cinnabar.
Shen Lian appeared to be calm and collected like a Daoist as he stood in the hall. His long hair was worn in a Daoist manner, and he gave off a mysterious and deep aura.
The Qing Xuan Hall was s.p.a.cious, and it could accommodate any number of people. The s.p.a.ce within it could be extended. Shen Lian only realized that it was an instrument on its own after he had received the Mark of the Chief.
Even though he witnessed the formation of the Qing Xuan Hall via Grandmaster Yuanqing"s memories, but throughout the years along with the s.h.i.+ft in spiritual opportunity, Qing Xuan Hall had become a top instrument that had spirituality under the guidance of the previous chiefs.
Shen Lian was joined by the Qing Xuan Hall, they were one and it felt natural.