Before Ding Songyan could ask anything more, Qin Nuansheng sighed with a wistful smile.

"You actually asked me about martial arts before, you know. I even went out of my way to ask Shengyi. And now, you’ve forgotten all of it."

"It’s not like I remember much of anything." Ding Songyan wore a look of "distress."

Qin Nuansheng rose from her chair and paced a few steps.

"Body tempering and qi cultivation are merely the fundamentals of the martial path. Together they’re called the Initial Realm, though some call it the Mortal Realm.

"It’s only at the Life Realm, when you begin refining the body’s apertures, that you become eligible for inclusion in the Orchid Rankings. But there are many in this realm. Only those with exceptional talent or distinguished backgrounds receive an official rank and become widely known.

"Ranking isn’t based on how many apertures you’ve refined, but on actual combat performance. Within the Life Realm there are three ranks, from lowest to highest: Path, Hall, and Chamber. These are the so-called Lower Three Ranks, the most common level for martial artists and wandering swordsmen.

"Ordinary folk like us don’t understand the terminology and can’t tell the ranks apart. We just call them ninth, eighth, and seventh rank.

"Shengyi once said that the Lower Three Grades don’t surpass ordinary people by that much, which is why they’re also called the Human Realm. At this level, the cultivation method hasn’t yet manifested much that’s extraordinary. In actual combat, what matters more are technique, willpower, experience, wit, weaponry, armor. One slip or miscalculation, and a seventh-rank person can be killed by a ninth-rank one..."

Ding Songyan listened with full attention, interrupting Qin Nuansheng from time to time with questions.

After covering the Life Realm and the Lower Three Grades, Qin Nuansheng’s eyes turned, studying her cousin for a moment before saying solemnly, "I don’t know much beyond that, but Shengyi did mention this: if you want to cultivate higher and more advanced arts, if you want to go further on the martial path, you can pick any method you like during the Initial Realm for body tempering and qi cultivation. But once you reach the Life Realm, you absolutely cannot refine apertures blindly."

"Why is that?" Ding Songyan pressed.

Qin Nuansheng tilted her head slightly, recalling.

"He said that different cultivation methods require different sets of apertures, and different techniques are used to refine them. If a superior art you obtain later requires apertures that overlap with the ones your current method uses, the two will conflict. In mild cases, you suffer a deviation and your martial arts are crippled entirely. In severe cases, you go mad, or die on the spot.

"However, if two methods have no overlapping apertures and no conflict, they can be cultivated concurrently or switched between. Actually, even when there is aperture overlap, certain special circumstances allow one to break through this limitation."

"What special circumstances?" Ding Songyan’s face was pure eagerness.

Qin Nuansheng chuckled softly.

"I don’t know the rest. Shengyi only gave one example at the time.

"All martial arts related to snakes can be switched to the study of the true dragon. Overlapping apertures won’t conflict in that case. They’ll simply be subsumed and transformed."

A wyrm-like jiao evolving into a true dragon. A higher-order art? Ding Songyan grasped the underlying principle of this special case and asked in passing, "Which sect possesses the study of the true dragon?"

Qin Nuansheng couldn’t help rolling her eyes and glared at him.

"You love putting me on the spot. I’m a woman spending all her time at home. What would I know of the jianghu? All I know is that the most famous is the Six Dragon Sect of Xinyu, which carries the Yinglong lineage. You know about the Yinglong, right?"

Of course... "Yinglong, the Responsive Dragon: summons wind and rain, gathers clouds and mist, commands thunder, and rules the myriad skies. When dragon and phoenix appear together it is an omen of harmony"... The annotation read "ancestor of dragons, origin of phoenixes"... "dragon in form, paired with phoenix wings"... The passages from the Secret Classic flashed through Ding Songyan’s mind.

This was an ancient deity he had been fairly familiar with in his previous life, so he had read the relevant entries with great care and remembered them clearly.

After more idle conversation, Qin Nuansheng said to Ding Songyan, "I nearly forgot. Physician Shao asked you to visit his clinic in the next day or two when you’re free. He wants to examine your current condition."

"All right." Having already been through one examination, Ding Songyan was no longer afraid of seeing Physician Shao.

Under the guidance of the maidservant, Cuihe, he left the Lotus Pond Courtyard. He had just drawn near the main gate when he saw his cousin-in-law, Zhen Quanwang, seeing off a group of people, all smiles and bowing and nodding.

The gate stood fully open.

The group’s leader was a man in his twenties, dressed in feathered robes and a tall ceremonial cap, styled like a reclusive scholar. Yet the man himself had nothing sublime about him. He was noticeably shorter than Ding Songyan, pale and plump, with puffy eyelids and a drowsy face. Most distinctive of all were his oversized ears, shaped like a canine’s.

Behind him walked four handmaidens, one cradling a zither, one holding a fan, one bearing a sword, one carrying a box. All were strikingly beautiful and dressed in vivid, eye-catching colors.

In addition, four guards followed. Some old, some in their prime. One had the same canine ears. Another’s hands were covered in brown animal fur. A third bore strange markings painted along the sides of his face. The fourth moved with an unsteady, fleeting gait, more ghost than man.

In the past two days, Ding Songyan had barely seen anyone with visible physical abnormalities. Now he had encountered five at once.

What a spectacle... He watched the group depart through the main gate, then turned to Cuihe beside him.

"Who were those distinguished guests?"

Is something happening at the Zhen estate?

"I do not know." Cuihe shook her head repeatedly.

......

After returning to Dangkang Temple to listen to storytellers for a good while, the setting sun was already hanging above the horizon by the time Ding Songyan returned to Chengyu Lane.

Before he even reached the courtyard gate, he heard the sound of something being struck inside. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

What’s going on? Ding Songyan raised an eyebrow and pushed open the two half-closed wooden doors.

The first thing that met his eyes was Bull, bare from the waist up, kneeling before the elm tree. His head hung low as Liu Yuzao struck his back again and again with a piece of firewood.

"You shall not kill the innocent."

"You shall not lose your temper and brawl."

"You shall not bully others."

Liu Yuzao’s face was cold. With each admonition she brought the wood down on Bull’s back, raising red welts, the skin growing raw and mangled with blood.

Didn’t the matter of Bull killing the Small Boat Gang man get settled last night? Ding Songyan did not immediately intervene. He circled around to where Qingyan stood with both hands over her eyes, unwilling to look at the wounds, set down his trade tools, and whispered, "What happened?"

Qingyan turned her body to face away from the elm tree, lowering her hands.

"Bull got into an argument with someone at the docks today. He nearly hit the man. Scared him half to death. The foreman told him to apologize but he refused, so the foreman came to us to complain."

"I see..." Ding Songyan did not ask who was in the right. He only marveled that the foreman must be blind. If it were him, he would never dare force a man that fierce-looking, one whose temper alone could frighten people to death, to apologize. Was the foreman not afraid his whole family might cease to exist?

Well, this is why I need to learn martial arts. Otherwise all you can do is compromise...

After mulling it over for a while, Ding Songyan was about to ask his father to persuade their mother that discipline was discipline but she shouldn’t beat Bull half to death, when he saw Ding Shengyi pick up a fresh piece of firewood and hand it to Liu Yuzao after her previous one snapped.

Ding Songyan let out a sigh. Using the corner of his eye, he glanced at Qingyan.

"Does our family’s Buddhist practice include any method for subduing inner demons, one that calms the mind and focuses the spirit?"

He felt that for someone like his elder brother—a born ruffian—family education and emotional bonds alone would not suffice. There had to be internal cultivation as well. Training the mind was the only real cure. Meditation was the path to becoming a buddha.

Qingyan shook her head.

"No?" Ding Songyan pressed.

"I don’t know." Qingyan sighed helplessly. "Second Brother, I haven’t even come of age yet. Stop treating me like I know everything."

After Liu Yuzao finished disciplining Bull, Ding Songyan took clean cloth strips, medicine, and other supplies, and walked to the elm tree where his brother still knelt. He said quietly, "Bull, let me put some medicine on. Bear with it."

Discipline was discipline. But familial warmth still had to be shown. Otherwise they would all be finished together.

Bull answered in his rumbling voice.

"It’s nothing. I didn’t even move when Mother was hitting me.

"Songyan, you’re so nice to me."

What I really want is to stay far away from you... Ding Songyan sucked in a breath, cleaned Bull’s wounds first, then applied the medicine and wrapped the bandages.

Throughout the entire process, Bull did not make a sound. Only his body trembled slightly.

It was not until everyone was about to sleep that he was permitted inside to lie on his stomach.

Ding Songyan closed the door to the west wing, lit the oil lamp, and said to Qingyan, "I need to write tomorrow’s story. Will the light bother your sleep?"

He had come home late and had not yet had time to work out the next section of The Legend of the White Snake.

"Not at all. I will fall asleep in no time." Qingyan’s face was full of anticipation. "Remember to let me read it tomorrow morning."

Ding Songyan used the stacked large wooden chest as a desk and the small chest as a chair. He spread out paper, ground ink, picked up the brush, and began diligently recording his ideas.

This section of the story would begin with Lady Bai stealing the elixir of immortality to revive Xu Xian, who upon waking would have no memory of being frightened to death by a snake’s body. The two would then conceive a child, and after 40 weeks of pregnancy, gave birth to the reincarnation of the Wenqu Star.

"Hm, what was Fahai doing during all this time..." As Ding Songyan wrote, something felt off.

Fahai just watched and did nothing while Lady Bai and Xu Xian lived together as husband and wife, and she even gave birth to the Wenqu Star?

How am I supposed to write this part...

He set down the brush, thinking it over, when suddenly he felt someone watching him.

He spun around and looked toward the bed.

A figure sat there. He did not know when she had arrived.

She wore a plain white dress. Her eyes were slightly upturned at the corners. Her nose was small and delicate. Her black hair was bound with a white silk kerchief. She rested her chin on one hand, watching Ding Songyan with a smile.

It was none other than the girl who had listened to his story during the day.

"You’ve already worked out what happens next, haven’t you?" she asked with a faint smile.

The corner of Ding Songyan’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

Is this a house call to demand the next Chapter?

Does knowing martial arts mean you can do anything!?

He glanced toward the screen, saw no movement from Qingyan, and lowered his voice.

"It’s the middle of the night. Heroine, why not get some rest and listen tomorrow?"

He noticed that this girl’s aura was remarkably fluid. Yesterday it had been pure, coquettish, artlessly charming. During the day today, she was delicate and fragile. But now, at night, she was inexplicably dangerous and alluring...

"I can’t sleep. All I can think about is whether Xu Xian can be saved, what will happen between him and Lady Bai..." The girl’s voice had shed its softness, taking on a drifting, silken edge.

Then she smiled, radiant and lovely.

"Do you know why I love this story so much? Why am I so taken with it?"

"I don’t." Ding Songyan felt a sudden premonition of danger.

Before he could react, he felt something ice-cold and slick coil around him.

He looked down in alarm. A massive white-scaled serpent’s tail, thick beyond belief.

It extended from beneath the girl’s skirt!

Ding Songyan became dumbfounded.

So I’ve met the real thing?

I casually tell The Legend of the White Snake and run into an actual white snake?

"You understand now?" the girl asked, her smile brimming with amusement.