Chapter 22: Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff (2)

Posted byYours TrulyOctober 9, 2023Posted inZanxing

Fund my coffee addiction and get additional releases by buying me ‘kofis’. Click here to donate or go to the bottom of the page.

You can also get additional releases without monetary donations by completing ‘milestones’. Click here to know more.

Zanxing looked at the cultivator beside Duan Xiangrao.

He appeared to be in his early thirties, with a narrow and elongated face, and his eyebrows and eyes were slightly upturned, giving him an air of being hard to get along with. However, he seemed quite wealthy, as the sword at his waist was adorned with a beautiful green gemstone.

Duan Xiangrao leaned against him in a coquettish manner, and there was a hint of triumph in her eyes as she gazed at Zanxing, as if she were showing off her new boyfriend.

Zanxing was somewhat speechless.

“What are you looking at, ugly girl?” The cultivator furrowed his brows and spoke with a hint of arrogance.

Tian Fangfang took a step back and whispered to Zanxing, “Junior Sister Yang, this gentleman is called Hua Yue. He was the first-place winner in the selection competition and has already formed a core.”

Zanxing’s heart skipped a beat. In the selection competition, the top-ranked participant had collected a total of fifty-four Lianshan flowers, not because he had climbed the highest but because he had snatched the most.

He had practically secured first place by snatching the most flowers, as he was already in the early Golden Core stage. Among the new disciples, his cultivation level was the highest.

Duan Xiangrao had actually found the first-place winner among the new disciples to be her new boyfriend. Zanxing couldn’t help but sigh in her heart again; her social skills were truly something else.

A wise person knows when to yield, and Zanxing had no intention of arguing with this person right now. She decided to avoid his sharpness, turned around, and walked away with her staff in hand. Tian Fangfang quickly followed, and behind them, they could hear Duan Xiangrao and Hua Yue’s mocking laughter, but Zanxing chose to ignore it.

She reached the Chu Hong Terrace and split up from Tian Fangfang. Finding a secluded spot in the forest with abundant spiritual energy and few people around, she sat down. She took out the “Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff” technique from her bosom and began to read it using her spiritual consciousness.

This manual was written by an unknown author. As soon as she started reading, a fragrant breeze wafted through, like the scent of flowers carried by a woman. It was both fragrant and sweet. Then, Zanxing’s vision gradually blurred.

It was as if she was immersed in a chaotic white mist. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but the mist gradually dissipated, revealing a young woman in front of her.

The woman wore a flowing white gown, and her face was not visible. Just by looking at her silhouette, she seemed like an unparalleled beauty. The beauty stood under a lush flower tree, holding a long green staff in her hand. After a moment, she placed the staff horizontally in front of her and began to dance with the staff in her hand.

The staff techniques had always been tough and fierce, but in this woman’s hands, they seemed like living willow branches, soft and graceful. She danced and spoke at the same time, her voice as clear as silver bells, saying, “Zhongzhi, the core of the staff path, is known as being upright and straight. Whether it’s a big move or a small one, the body and the weapon must align in a straight line, just like the meridian. This is what we call ‘Ziwu.'”

With that, she thrust the staff in front of her eyes as if to make her words clear.

Zanxing widened her eyes, not daring to miss a single one of the woman’s movements. It was peculiar, as they often said that women using staffs were ungraceful, yet this woman in white, dancing with her staff, resembled a graceful dancer. The green staff stirred up a strong breeze, swaying the treetops and causing cherry blossoms to shower the ground.

Thus, both in the trees and on the ground, there was a profusion of beauty. Amidst the rosy hues, there was only the solitary figure of the woman in white, as if she would eternally dance in the breeze.

At first, her movements were slow, allowing Zanxing to clearly understand each step. Gradually, her staff techniques quickened, and in the end, it was difficult to distinguish between the woman, the flowers and the staff. All that remained was the image of an otherworldly beauty, graceful as a swan and elegant as a dragon.

The sky progressively darkened.

The rainbow in front of Chu Hong Terrace’s waterfall slowly dissipated, and sunlight disappeared entirely behind the clouds. A few scattered stars peeked through, showering the entire forest with their light.

The woman in the flowing gown remained motionless, seated quietly in place. Large beads of sweat gradually formed on her forehead. These droplets rolled down to the tip of her nose, but she appeared unaware of them. In the night’s darkness, countless stars converged above her head, silently observing this person who had practiced for a day and a night.

…..

In the early morning, autumn rain began to fall on Mount Gufeng.

The rainwater slipped in through the unclosed window gap, dampening the papers on the table by the window. A loud rooster’s crow woke up the entire morning, and the students complained as they got up for their classes.

Zanxing rubbed her eyes and got up to freshen up.

After eating a few bites of leftover flatbread from the previous night, Zanxing picked up her umbrella and headed out the door.

Duan Xiangrao had already left. Sometimes Zanxing really admired her roommate. To present herself in the best light possible in front of others, Duan Xiangrao had to get up half an hour earlier every day to prepare and dress up. Zanxing couldn’t do that, she cherished every extra minute of sleep.

Inside the study hall, the students placed their folded oiled paper umbrellas by the entrance and cleaned the mud from their shoes before entering. As Zanxing sat down, her neighbor at the next table, Tian Fangfang, asked in surprise, “Junior Sister, did you not sleep well? Why do you look so haggard?”

Zanxing yawned and replied, “Yeah, lack of sleep.”

It had been five days since she acquired the “Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff,” and the sect’s assessment was less than ten days away. Zanxing went to the Chu Hong Terrace for self-practice every day after finishing the public classes, often staying until late at night. The visible increase in her dark circles and the black marks on her right cheek left by the demonic aura were making her appearance even worse.

This was tolerable. As a workaholic who often worked late into the night, staying up until the early hours of the morning was a regular occurrence for Zanxing. What frustrated her was that despite her efforts, her staff technique hadn’t improved in the slightest.

She had already grasped the staff techniques of the “Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff,” but when she swung her iron staff, it appeared just like ordinary staff techniques, completely lacking the power she had seen in her mind from the white-clad woman. Zanxing couldn’t help but feel like she was a poor imitation, able to imitate the form but not capture the essence.

On the stage, Daoist Yueguang was still reading slowly: “Black crow flies, jade-like rabbit runs, three realms in a grain of millet. Mountains, rivers, and the earth, dust accumulates through the years. Yin and yang flip into the profound valley. In the stone-fire lightning of human life, several magpies perch on a branch as guests. Mulberry fields and vast seas, spring and autumn return. Heaven and earth don’t release, and the axe doesn’t rest… In the lofty heights of the nine heavens, the wind and moon are cold, and there’s no idle worry in the belly of immortals…”

Zanxing was deeply engrossed in her staff technique, so she didn’t notice Tian Fangfang desperately signaling her with his eyes and the approaching figure of Daoist Yueguang.

Two fingers tapped on Zanxing’s desk, and she looked up to meet the gentle gaze of Daoist Yueguang. He said, “This disciple, can you tell me what the ‘Great Dao Song’ just now was about?”

Oh no, she got caught being distracted in class. Duan Xiangrao gleefully stared at her, hoping to witness Zanxing making a fool of herself.

Zanxing stood up and said without a change in expression, “This means that life is short and everything is but an illusion. We should cherish our time and seize the present moment… All things in the world have their own ‘Dao,’ and we shouldn’t be constrained by forms but should recognize the ‘truth’ within.”

Daoist Yueguang smiled and asked, “What is ‘truth,’ and what is ‘illusion’?”

Zanxing made up a response, saying, “For example, when it’s raining outside, and everyone feels cold, the feeling of being cold is an ‘illusion’, while the rain is the ‘truth’.”

It was a mix of materialism and idealism, something anyone might have learned.

Daoist Yueguang shook his head gently and said, “Heaven and earth are indifferent; the flourishing and withering of all things are illusions, and the great numbers are true from beginning to end. The concept of truth and falsehood is a construct of the world, and it varies from person to person. What you see as ‘truth’ or ‘illusion’ depends on your perspective.”

This was quite obscure, and Zanxing didn’t fully understand it. As she sat back down, something suddenly flashed through her mind.

Wait, truth and illusion?