Zanxing

Chapter 22 - The Qing'e Nianhua Staff (2)

Zanxing glanced at the cultivator standing beside Duan Xiangrao.

He was a man in his early thirties, with a narrow, long face and eyebrows that slanted upward, giving him a rather harsh and difficult-to-approach appearance. However, he must be quite wealthy, as the sword at his waist was adorned with a beautiful green gemstone embedded in the scabbard.

Duan Xiangrao leaned against him in a delicate, bird-like manner. Her eyes gleamed with a hint of pride as she looked at Zanxing, as if she were showing off her new boyfriend.

Zanxing found it hard to express her feelings.

"What are you staring at, ugly girl?" The cultivator's eyes narrowed, his tone dripping with arrogance and hostility.

Tian Fangfang took a step back and softly reminded Zanxing, "Junior Sister Yang, this man is Hua Yue, the first-place winner of the selection competition. He has already reached the Golden Core stage."

Zan Xing's heart stirred. In the selection competition, this man had plucked fifty-four Lianshan flowers—not because he climbed the highest, but because he snatched the most.

He had practically won by brute force, already being in the early stages of Golden Core, making him the strongest among the new disciples.

That Duan Xiangrao had found the first-place winner as her new boyfriend was, once again, a testament to her remarkable social skills, Zanxing thought with a sigh.

Knowing when to retreat is the mark of a wise person. Zanxing had no intention of confronting this man now. She decided to avoid him, shouldering her staff and quietly turning to leave. Tian Fangfang quickly followed, while behind them, Duan Xiangrao and Hua Yue's reckless laughter echoed, but Zanxing acted as though she didn't hear it.

She made her way to the exit of Chuhong Platform, parted ways with Tian Fangfang, and found a secluded, energy-rich grove where no one else was around. Sitting down, she took out the Qing'e Nianhua Staff manual from her robes and began reading it with her spiritual sense.

The origins of this manual were unknown, but the moment she opened it, she was greeted by a pleasant fragrance, like the sweet floral scent carried by a woman. Gradually, her vision blurred.

It felt like she was in a realm of swirling white mist. After an unknown amount of time, the mist slowly dissipated, revealing a young woman before her.

The woman was dressed in flowing white robes, her face obscured. From her silhouette alone, one could tell she was a stunning beauty. Standing beneath a lush flowering tree, she held a long green staff. Moments later, she placed the staff horizontally in front of her and began to perform a staff dance.

Normally, staff techniques were known for their rigidity and ferocity, but in this woman's hands, the staff moved like a living willow branch, soft and graceful. As she danced, her voice, clear like the ringing of silver bells, echoed, "The straight line is the core of the staff path. Balance and uprightness are its essence. Whether for large gates or small ones, the body and the weapon must always form a straight line, this is called the meridian alignment."

With these words, she thrust the staff forward as if explaining her meaning.

Zanxing widened her eyes, afraid to miss even the slightest of the woman's movements. It was strange—people often said that staff techniques were ungraceful for women, but the way this woman wielded her staff was like a dance, her movements light and captivating. The force of the green staff stirred the branches of the flowering tree, sending a cascade of petals fluttering down, covering the ground.

Under the tree and in the air, the flowers bloomed, and in the rosy glow, the lone figure of the woman in white seemed to dance endlessly against the wind.

At first, her movements were slow, each step clear for Zanxing to observe and understand. Gradually, her technique sped up, until it became impossible to distinguish between the person, the flowers, and the staff. All that remained was the impression of a peerless beauty, soaring like a startled swan, moving like a dragon in flight.

As the sky darkened, the rainbow over the waterfall at Chuhong Platform gradually faded, the sunlight completely hidden behind the clouds, and a few scattered stars began to twinkle, casting their starlight across the forest.

The woman, dressed in light robes, sat motionless where she was, large beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. The sweat dripped onto the tip of her nose, but she seemed entirely unaware. In the silent night, countless stars gathered above her, quietly watching this person who had been practicing for a day and a night.

At dawn, autumn rain began to fall on Mount Gufeng.

Raindrops slipped through the unlatched window, dampening the papers on the desk. A loud rooster's crow broke the morning silence, stirring complaints from the students as they begrudgingly rose for class.

Zanxing rubbed her eyes and got up to wash.

After hurriedly eating some leftover buns from the previous night, she grabbed an umbrella and stepped outside.

Duan Xiangrao had already left. Sometimes, Zanxing really admired her roommate—every day, Duan Xiangrao woke up half an hour earlier than everyone else to wash and dress up, just to present her best face to the world. Zanxing, on the other hand, would prefer to sleep for an extra fifteen minutes if she could.

In the school hall, disciples placed their oiled-paper umbrellas by the door and wiped the mud off their shoes before entering. As Zanxing sat down, Tian Fangfang from the next table asked in surprise, "Junior Sister, did you not sleep well? You look so tired."

Zanxing yawned, "Yeah, lack of sleep."

It had been five days since she'd picked up the Qing'e Nianhua Staff manual, and less than ten days remained until the sect's assessment. Every day after public lessons, Zanxing would go to the Chuhong Platform to practice late into the night. The dark circles under her eyes were growing increasingly visible, adding to the dark marks on her right cheek left by demonic energy, making her look even worse.

This was already bad enough, but the most frustrating thing was that despite all her hard work, her progress with the staff technique remained stagnant.

She had mastered the techniques of the Nianhua (Flower-Wielding) Staff, but when she wielded the iron staff, it looked no different from an ordinary staff technique, entirely lacking the power of the white-robed woman's graceful movements from her spiritual vision. Zanxing felt like a clumsy imitator, capturing the form but missing the essence.

On the platform, Master Yueguang was still slowly reading aloud: "The crow flies on golden wings, the hare runs on jade feet, and the three realms are but a grain of rice. Mountains and rivers fade in a few years' dust, yin and yang reverse into the abyss of mystery. Life is but a spark in the void, a handful of sparrows nest on a branch. Seas turn to mulberry fields, spring follows autumn, heaven, and earth are not to be severed..."

Zanxing was so absorbed in the bottleneck of her staff training that she didn't notice Tian Fangfang's frantic signals, nor did she see Master Yueguang approaching her.

Two fingers tapped on Zanxing's desk. She looked up to meet Master Yueguang's kind gaze. He said, "Disciple, why don't you explain the meaning of the verse from The Great Dao Song we just recited?"

Disaster—caught daydreaming in class. Duan Xiangrao was watching gleefully, ready to see Zanxing embarrass herself.

Zanxing stood up and, without changing her expression, confidently bluffed, "This verse is about how life is fleeting, everything is illusory, and it urges us to cherish our time and seize the present. All things in heaven and earth have their own 'Dao,' and we shouldn't be constrained by forms but should see through to the truth."

Master Yueguang smiled and asked, "What is 'truth' and what is 'illusion'?"

Zanxing made something up on the spot: "For example, it's raining outside, and everyone feels cold. The cold is the illusion, while the rain is the truth."

Materialism versus idealism—who hadn't studied that before?

Master Yueguang gently shook his head and said, "Heaven and earth are indifferent; the rise and fall of all things are illusions, while the great cycle of the universe is the truth..."