A Pawn's Passage

The Tantai Fist Intention was named after the founder. This last name was quite rare, and it rang a bell. Zhang Yuelu’s mother, Tantai Qiong, was from the Confucian Tantai family, but Qi Xuansu had also heard about a Daoist Tantai family.

Lei Xiaohuan explained, “This boxing manual is passed down from a Daoist elder.”

“Is it Tantai Yun?” Qi Xuansu asked.

Lei Xiaohuan’s eyes lit up. “You’re quite knowledgeable.”

Qi Xuansu was a little embarrassed. “Oh, no. I dare not claim that I am knowledgeable. I have only heard about this Daoist elder from the Holy Xuan Cards.”

Lei Xiaohuan was silent for a while before she asked, “What’s the Holy Xuan Cards?”

Pei Xiaolou explained, “It’s similar to leaf cards. It’s called the Holy Xuan Cards because it was invented by him. This set of cards includes figures from Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and even the Ancient Immortals during the Holy Xuan’s time. Those of us who grew up in the Daoist community usually play this.”

The Holy Xuan Cards were only circulated within the Daoist Order, so it was reasonable that Lei Xiaohuan did not know what it was. After all, she was originally from the Imperial Court and later married into the Daoist Order.

Lei Xiaohuan nodded. “I see. Since you are aware of this Daoist elder, there is no need for me to waste time explaining her life history. Back then, Tantai Yun left the Central Plains and went to the far west. Many years later, someone returned to Kunlun Mountain and brought Tantai Yun’s relics with them, claiming that Tantai Yun had ascended to the heavens.

“Among these relics, a large proportion of them were written books, including travel notes about some overseas experiences, memories of the past, and life lessons. This boxing manual was just one of the many books in the collection. It was originally nameless, but later generations summarized it and named it the Tantai Fist Intention.”

Qi Xuansu knew a little about Tantai Yun, who was as venerated as Emperor Gaozu of the Great Xuan Dynasty, the Holy Xuan’s father, the Earthly Preceptor who attacked Dazhen Mansion, and the Heavenly Preceptor who repaired Difei Mountain. As such, Qi Xuansu thought that the Tantai Fist Intention must be an advanced technique.

Lei Xiaohuan continued, “According to the standards of the Daoist Order, this fist intention is not considered a perfected method. It is at most a high-attainment method. However, you shouldn’t underestimate it. Back then, when the Holy Xuan fought in hand-to-hand combat, he would only use an average-attainment palm technique, but even so, countless people suffered in his hands. This shows that the key to winning fights still lies in oneself, not the method used.”

Qi Xuansu nodded solemnly. “Of course.”

In fact, Qi Xuansu dared not request to learn a perfected method. Even a prodigy like Zhang Yuelu had only learned two perfected methods. One of the perfected methods she learned was also thanks to the Earthly Preceptor’s tutelage.

Lei Xiaohuan pointed at the boxing manual in Qi Xuansu’s hand and said, “You don’t have to be polite thinking that you’ll open this gift after I leave. I suggest that you browse through it first. That way, I can help you with anything you don’t understand. By the way, there is a preface in this boxing manual. But this is a preface to the entire lineage, not just this book.”

Qi Xuansu obliged, opening the cover of the book. He saw some small font printed on the title page.

“In my youth, I read to cultivate my spirit; in my young adulthood, I practiced Daoism to refine my innate qi. In my thirties, I stopped refining innate qi to pursue martial arts, seeking to understand myself and the world. Ultimately, I became a Wuliang-stage Martial Arts Practitioner.”

Qi Xuansu’s eyelids twitched as he secretly admired this Daoist elder.

Tantai Yun was from the Confucian Tantai family but later joined the Daoist Order. She became a Qi Refiner following the Earthly Immortal lineage, but she transitioned to become a Martial Arts Practitioner under the Manly Immortal lineage. However, she still managed to advance to the Wuliang stage of Heavenly Beings in her thirties.

This showed that Tantai Yun was just as talented as Donghuang.

Qi Xuansu was already 25 years old. However, he was still three levels behind the Wuliang stage of Heavenly Beings even with the Xuan Jade’s transformation. Without the Xuan Jade, Qi Xuansu would have still been at the Kunlun stage of Xiantian Beings.

He wondered if he could advance three stages to become a Wuliang-stage Heavenly Being in just 5 years. Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu felt anxious because it was too tight of a schedule. He thought that 50 years was a more reasonable timeframe.

Zhang Yuelu would have hope of accomplishing this. After all, Tantai Yun had transferred lineages, so there were some losses and hindrances to the advancement in cultivation. In other words, if Tantai Yun had chosen the Manly Immortal lineage from the beginning, she could have reached that stage sooner.

Qi Xuansu continued reading the preface.

“I was stuck at a bottleneck before the Zaohua stage for an arduous three years, but I still couldn’t see the way forward. That was the reason I abandoned martial arts and returned to qi refining. Finally, I gained a profound understanding of the path to immortality and felt reborn.”

Qi Xuansu was speechless when he saw that Tantai Yun described three years as “arduous.” If he had not read the number of years correctly, he would have thought that Tantai Yun meant 30 years.

Tantai Yun even abandoned the Manly Immortal path and returned to the Earthly Immortal lineage once again. Was this how geniuses viewed the world? Was this how much confidence they had in themselves? It must be embarrassing for those who only understood the path of immortality in their 70s or 80s, right? How could Qi Xuansu even begin to compare himself to Tantai Yun when the gap between them seemed astronomical?

Qi Xuansu took a deep breath and continued reading.

“After attaining immortality, the hidden hurdles accumulated over the years finally emerged. I made no progress for several more years.”

Fortunately, this time, Tantai Yun did not add “arduous” when describing the years. It seemed that this Daoist elder finally understood that getting stuck several years at a certain threshold was not a big deal. Many people got stuck for life, and there were even more people who could not even touch or see the threshold.

“In the 8th year of Emperor Tianbao’s reign, I met the Ancient Great Witch, Wu Yang, in Kunlun. With Wu Yang’s guidance, I once again abandoned qi refining and took up martial arts. I could finally see the smooth path ahead. How fortunate was I to have met her!”

This paragraph contained so much information that Qi Xuansu had to digest.

Emperor Tianbao was the last emperor of the former Wei Dynasty. Back then, Tantai Yun had already established a new country, proclaiming herself as a king. However, Tantai Yun did not write this preface in reference to the year of her own reign. Instead, she used the Wei Dynasty’s time of reference. Was this to facilitate future generations? Or did Tantai Yun herself also acknowledge the legitimacy of the Wei Dynasty?

This was as expected of a Confucian disciple. Even after rebelling and proclaiming herself as a king, deep down, she still felt that she was not legitimate.

Back then, there were Eleven Great Witches in Ancient Wuism. Wu Yang was among them, but she was unlike the other Ten Great Witches, which included Wu Luo.

In some way, Wu Yang was similar to Tantai Yun. The two women had respected titles in their institution, like the Great Witch Wu Yang and the Virtuous Great Sage Tantai Yun. However, they had always distanced themselves from these institutions.

Qi Xuansu often had a strange recurring dream in the past. However, this dream changed after he obtained the Xuan Jade of Life.

He guessed that the eleven figures he saw in his dream were the Eleven Great Witches of Ancient Wuism and that the relatively-small figure that appeared in the end was Wu Yang. Wu Yang kicking over the fire could mean the rebellion of the Six Enlightened Witches, which separated from the original group.

Tantai Yun met Wu Yang more than 200 years ago. However, it had been 1,500 years since Ancient Wuism was destroyed.

Qi Xuansu did not expect that the Great Witches Wu Yang and Wu Luo still existed in the mortal realm. It seemed that Ancient Wuism was not completely dead after all and still lingered in the mortal realm.

He wondered where the other nine Great Witches were, especially Wu Xian, the leader of the Ten Great Witches who was murdered by Wu Luo. Where was she?

By now, Qi Xuansu grew numb to Tantai Yun's repeated change of lineages. She was so talented that the natural barrier between the lineages did not seem to exist for her. She could cultivate innate qi or practice martial arts whenever she liked and still make great progress, achieving immortality before she turned 50.

On the other hand, most people would suffer heavy losses by switching lineages. It was like learning Eastern ink-wash painting and suddenly studying Western oil painting. There were some similarities, but one would still have to start from scratch with the techniques.

Tantai Yun was already proficient in Eastern ink-wash painting, but when she switched to Western oil painting, she improved significantly and hit a bottleneck. That was when she came back to continue studying ink-wash painting and then later oil painting again. Finally, she integrated everything she learned and became a legendary painter of all time.

Qi Xuansu lamented that he was lagging too far behind Tantai Yun.

Considering that Tantai Yun once proclaimed herself as a king, she could have been a good candidate for Grand Master if she had been born in this era. It was a pity that she was born in the Holy Xuan’s era, so her accomplishments were overshadowed by the Holy Xuan’s. She even had to flee to the Western Region.

Tantai Yun could only blame her luck for being born at the wrong time.