Chapter 13: On the Concept of Artistic Conception (Apologies)

"Are you referring to the plan to improve the treatment of newly admitted disciples?" Mao Wencheng narrowed his eyes, thinking of the extraordinary Chen Fan who had stood out this year, and a flicker of interest passed through him. He lifted one brow. "What do you have in mind?"

Ye Wuchi smiled.

"Over the years, only a fixed number of newcomers from the academy have been admitted to the Bright Moon Hall. It’s not a bad arrangement, but it still isn’t enough to entice the legitimate heirs of major clans."

Mao Wencheng nodded. "That is why, for the last two years, we have offered generous rewards to the top-ranking new disciples."

Even earth-grade elixirs and a spiritual weapon left unattended in the open would make any true master hesitate.

Ye Wuchi continued,
"This year Chen Fan is an exception—exceptionally gifted. We can make a small adjustment. With his strength and talent, he is bound to enter the Bright Moon Hall within three to five years at the latest. Why not bring him in early?"

"That is possible," Mao said, frowning slightly, "but Bright Moon Hall has limited openings. If we make an exception for Chen Fan, others may raise objections."

Ye Wuchi shook his head as if it were no concern.
"With more than two hundred seats, what difference does one matter? By talent and aptitude, Chen Fan is already stronger than most Starry Hall disciples, even at his current level. Tell me, Director, have you noticed something? Even among all disciples under eighteen in our Martial Academy, is there anyone stronger than him?"

Mao Wencheng blinked, suddenly alert.
"For those under eighteen, you mean…?"

Ye Wuchi nodded, a faint smile on his face.
"Exactly. The bid for the Hidden Realm spots is only months away. Given his age and strength, he is the best choice. And if he enters the Bright Moon Hall, he will progress even faster. As for the previous alternate candidate, his ranking has already slipped below Chen Fan’s, hasn’t it?"

Mao Wencheng’s eyes flashed. He squinted again as Ye’s point sank in.
"You’re right. With talent like Chen Fan’s, our Martial Academy must make our position clear. In a few days there will be the new-quarter disciple assessment and a complete re-ranking. I’ll raise it with everyone then."

Ye Wuchi inclined his head in agreement.

As dean, Mao Wencheng carried real authority.
Once his mind settled on Chen Fan, admission to the Bright Moon Hall was almost certain.

Only that Chen Fan would still have to wait until the next re-ranking before the transfer could be finalized.

Three days later, Chen Fan arrived at the Hall of Myriad Illusions at the appointed hour, waiting for his turn.

After a long while, his time finally came.

"Once you’re in, turn right. Room Five, Yellow section. Don’t get lost. Someone inside will show you how to use the formation to simulate the environment. After two hours, someone will signal the end."

"Yellow" referred to the yellow of Heaven-and-Earth’s primordial hue, the lowest category in the hall’s illusion rooms.

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly and stepped inside.

Even the Yellow-level rooms were enormous in the Hall of Myriad Illusions, two or three hundred square meters at least.

Each room contained a fixed set of more than a dozen illusion patterns, and at the entrance one could switch among them through a control-type formation device.

Wind, fire, thunder, rain, sand, snow—
all the basic and unusual environments were available.

Only the more complex environments required higher-tier rooms.

Chen Fan immediately selected the thunder environment array.

The hall’s formation slowly awakened, and the room before him slowly filled with dark storm clouds.
In the center, clouds massed and lightning flares began to crackle to life.

The lightning brightened and grew louder with every flicker, sharp pops and snaps filling the space.

At the center, the discharge was dense; toward the edges, sparse.

Chen Fan stepped forward and instantly felt a tingling numbness spread through his fingers.

"Formations are astonishing indeed," he murmured.

He didn’t dare to rush. One measured step at a time, he moved toward the middle, eyes fixed on the shifting lightning.

Before long, he had reached the center. Finer and finer bolts began to strike his body.
His limbs grew numb and hot, yet he could still bear it.

The voltage had to be low.

At the same time, while lightning flickered before him, a strange and wondrous sensation gathered in his heart, and time itself seemed to lose meaning.

With hands interlaced, Chen Fan felt a faint understanding stir within.

He simply sat cross-legged in the storm of light until, at last, the formation stopped by timing and he startled back to himself.

Two full hours had passed.

Characters had flashed before his eyes as well.
His already-advancing Three-Thousand Thunder Pulses for the Subtlety stage had long been stagnant; now they suddenly stirred again, the green progress bar climbing slowly upward. Though completion was still some distance away, Chen Fan caught a glimmer of hope.

"When one reaches full mastery of the Subtlety phase and moves toward unity, practice is no longer about techniques alone, but about something far stranger than technique itself. This time in the Hall truly gave me insight by confronting the lightning directly, yet it is still not enough to break into unity…"

With that ineffable feeling still lingering, he left the hall somewhat disappointed—and immediately signed up for the next session, only to remember he’d have to wait another two or three days.

He also could not resist thinking: If he were on a stormy day and tied a lightning rod to his head, let himself be struck, this progress bar might leap like fire—perhaps even break into unity at once.

Of course, lightning can carry a charge of one hundred thousand, even ten million volts. At a glance from afar it seems harmless.

Even with his cultivation, Chen Fan had no desire to feel what a strike truly is.

And being struck by lightning was not always immediate death. If there happened to be enough conductive metal nearby to ground the force quickly, even a bolt from overhead did not guarantee death.

But one as gifted as Chen Fan need not gamble with life itself for odds.

...

Nearly a month had passed since he entered the academy.

On this day he once again left the Hall of Myriad Illusions.

In these days, he had used it many times—not merely to push through martial technique with lightning, but also to cultivate true practice through primordial stones.
Under lightning pressure, his efficiency in absorbing those stones had increased many times over.

Though it could not match the yield of his automated cultivation, it still raised his martial attainment.

"If I could remain in the Hall of Myriad Illusions every day, practicing and absorbing primordial stones, even one-tenth of my automatic method would be a remarkable improvement," he thought.

It was unfortunate that slots came only once every three days.

After his session, Chen Fan went straight to Starry Hall.

In the lecture hall, he took a seat in a corner of the wide room and listened earnestly to the martial instructor on the platform.

The teachers at Starry Hall were at least sixth-tier in the martial path, not without many who had reached grandmaster level. Their courses on power release and battlefield craft were genuinely useful.

And because every man was different, each had his own specialty; even sixth-tier masters had plenty worth learning.

Chen Fan had once believed his own autonomous cultivation meant he needed no teachers. Yet after attending a few sessions he found great value in them. These days, apart from the time he spent in the Hall, he came daily, and gained a great deal.

Today’s instructor was a grandmaster fighter, and the topic captured Chen Fan’s keen interest.

Today’s lesson was the key to how a sixth-tier warrior breaks into grandmaster rank.

Chen Fan’s eyes brightened.

Though he was still only fourth-tier, he was already trying every way he could to comprehend the Unity realm.

The teacher—white-haired, yet clear-tongued—said,

"To become a grandmaster, two things are required. First, your strength must reach the sixth tier, and you must form a small circulation of qi and blood. The second is a point where many are deceived. Many think that to rise to grandmaster, one must achieve union of technique and self. That is not so.

"Technique-unity is not a necessary condition. But generally it signifies comprehension of intent, and intention is the true key. All things in heaven and earth possess their own intent. Carving, painting, calligraphy—even blacksmithing: when a craft reaches its summit, one may grasp its essence. Technique-unity is merely a convenient entry point to understanding that essence."

"Once one comprehends intent, one can merge it into one’s methods. Not only does this vastly increase force, but by coordinating with the body’s qi-blood circulation, one can lever the power of heaven and earth, draw it inward, and achieve grandmasterhood."

Mastering any one art can lead to that insight, but for a warrior, pursuing outside arts does waste time, and may be even harder than bringing martial arts itself to unity.

Chen Fan felt as though sweet dew had poured over him.

"All things have their intent. The point of technique-unity is to grasp that intent. No wonder channeling lightning through the body made me feel so strange as my martial art edged toward unity. I have not been refining moves anymore…"

He also understood now why, at times, a painting or a single symbolic vision had brought him sudden clarity.

His sudden understanding had been, too, a taste of that same intent, though still far from truly mastering the realm of it.

When the class ended, Chen Fan felt only that what remained was a hunger for more, and that his path ahead had become far clearer.