Nightfall

Ning Que Looked at the half cup of cold tea, pondering what the master had said. And he felt a sense of peacefulness.

Master Yan Se slightly smiled and raised his skinny arm to draw simple lines in the air.

Then, the air in this pavilion suddenly became drier. A faint flame magically showed up in front of Ning Que, and disappeared in the next minute. Ning Que was so scared that he almost jumped from ground.

Master Yan Se smiled and said,”Your friend compared the Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi into a string of a musical instrument, it was a good saying. The lines of Fu also could be regarded as strings of the instrument which were used to play songs that could be understood by the Heaven and Earth, yet I still think it would be better to compare it into an article, for Fu not only lets the Heaven and Earth appreciate the beauty of melody but also clearly expresses ideas and seek tiny differences between activity and inertia. ”

After this, he raised his right hand again and used his index finger to draw six lines in the air.

Ning Que felt moisture generated from master’s finger, the moisture was brushing his face and making a slight noise. He reached out to touch it without realization, finding that his face was wet, as if being washed just now.

“Using different lines and different Psyche Power, you can write a different article which can express different ideas and have different effect.”Looking at Ning Que who kept touching his own face like a girl crazy, master Yan Se said with a smile, “Teaching you Talisman Taoism is like teaching you how to write an article.”

“How to write an article? After you have learnt classics and sensed Qi of Heaven and Earth, how to finish your last stroke to let the Qi of Heaven and Earth know what you are thinking? There is no trick in the last step, or we can say that we must have a trick. Then, what does a trick mean?” “Well, it refers to talent. If you can write, then you write, otherwise even you soak yourself in that Ink Lake day and night, you still can’t write.”

Looking at Ning Que, master Yan Se continued to say, “The last thing needed when studying Talisman Taoism is talent. Talent is the most precious gift that Haotian gives to us, only few people are lucky enough to have it, you are one of them.”

“This… is way too hard.”

Ning Que felt puzzled. He saw magic things happen, yet couldn’t figure out how these things happen. The master had talked so much, but in the end he still talked about the metaphysics. What he had said was not useful at all. Stuff like talent couldn’t be explained well, but then how could people use this inexplainable talent to finish the last stroke of a Chinese character?

“If studying Talisman Taoism depends on talent, the first man who found Talisman Taoism in the world saw the marks of Fu lines and copied them without realization, and then wrote the first Fu. But according to your idea that Talisman Taoism can not be inherited, so how could he…”

Ning Que weighed his words before continuing to say, “Pass this civilization?”

Master Yan Se ruminated for a while before he answered, “Talisman Taoism can not be inherited, yet the spirit of it could. If Chinese characters can record ideas, it surely can record history then. It may be an coincident for that Talisman Master to find out how to write the first Fu.”

“Maybe tens of thousands of years ago, that Talisman Master walked to a cliff. After watching the cracks, he understood something, and then he concentrated all his power on the sword hanging on his waist, waved it toward that cliff, and put his power in it.”

“It was an coincidence to write the first Fu, but when this Grand Cultivator found the secrets hiding behind these sword scratches, he definitely would make another try. If he succeeded again, the second Fu would no longer be an coincidence, but a natural object.”

Ning Que doubted and said, “Or may be that cultivator couldn’t write the second Fu the rest of his life.”

Master Yan Se looked at him and said, “If the first cultivator failed, there would come the second cultivator, the third one, and then the fourth one. Time is endless, cultivators are countless. They would continue to explore the world, in that situation, there must be a cultivator being succeed. There is no doubt that this kind of thing will happen.”

Ning Que nodded his head.

Master Yan Se said,”It is the same for Talisman Taoism. Talisman Taoism can’t be inherited, but its spirit can. Before that cultivator died, he must tell his students. So his students would try. Maybe he succeeded, maybe he failed, or maybe this sect would disapper. But I believe that a few years later, there must be another cultivator who found the secrets of Talisman Taoism, and then told it to his students. As a result, there must be a sect being succeeded and inherited to the present.”

Lifting up his head, Ning Que said with a deep feeling, “Only a few cultivators could succeed. We will never know how many cultivators’ techniques didn’t pass down.”

“This is more like climbing a high mountain which you could never reach its top. Some people had to stop at the foot of the mountain, some people reached the half of the mountain, yet they were blown off by wind. Now it’s the heyday of Talisman Taoism development. However, if you see it in a broader perspective, you will find that this mountain is infinitely high.”

Master Yan Se looked at him and let out a sigh, “The birth of Talisman Taoism is very difficult, yet the development of Talisman Taoism is more difficult than that. That’s why when I found that you have a gift for Talisman Taoism, I were that thrilled. Since you are so lucky to get this talent, you must cherish it, not only for yourself, but also for Talisman Taoism itself.”

Through these words Ning Que felt endless lonely and pathetic, so he slightly stiffened his body, as if seeing scenes happened years ago.

…

…

In ancient times, there was a wizard wearing furs and living in a tribe. Once when he finished presiding over a sacrificial ceremony, he came into a cliff cave to have a rest. While singing a mysterious song, he picked up a stone to paint on the wall.

He intended to draw that beautiful and red flame, yet unexpectedly, that painting flamed up when he only finished half of it.

The wizard was too scared to say a word. He knelt down, kowtowing to it. His body covered by fur quivered with fear. People in the tribe rushed into the cave as soon as they heard the screams of the wizard, and then they also saw that burning painting and all knelt down, crying, screaming and regarding it as an evil.

As the most wise man in the tribe, the wizard gradually calmed down and drove all the other people out of the cave. Seeing the fire gradually extinguished, he stared at the black marks and hesitated for a long time before touching it, and then he was inspired and turned around to find that red stone, trembling repainting that picture on the wall again.

From that day on, the wizard could no longer draw burning painting anymore, yet he had become the most greatest wizard in the tribe.

…

…

Countless people died during the war between the Central Plains and the Wilderness. Blood seeped into the black earth, soaking grass and mud like chili sauce. A cultivator from Min Mountain squatted on the ground in silence, looking at his brother’s dead body and holding a branch without knowing where it came from. And he drew on the ground without realization.

Not far from him, the entire maroon Wilderness seemed live. The ground constantly waved and countless earthworms and insects were frightened by it and fled everywhere, as if there was a mutated giant earthworm under the ground.

…

…

A student read the original Fu texts left by his teacher and kept copying them on yellow papers. He wrote, from a lad to a middle-aged man and then to an old man. These yellow papers stock up in his room. Spider’s web threaded beams, but he never stopped.

A person sat on the towering summit of Zhongli Mountain, he was holding a drawing board, and all pigments were around him. Looking at the mountain and the flowing clouds, he drew paintings from sunrise to sunset, and then to another sunrise. He drew paintings from winter to spring, and then to summer. He never stopped.

From ancient times to the present, those people who were lucky enough to, or accidentally to understand the true meaning of Talisman Taoism. And those students who wanted to grasp Talisman Taoism, they kept mimicking the lines of Heaven and Earth, they racked their brains to write an article, they run out of papers and writing brushes, they draw every single mountain and every single river, and all inks they had used could even black pool water.

No matter being succeeded or failed, they never stopped trying with all effort. Just because of their persistence and trying, the most mysterious gift of Haotian was not taken back and was narrowly not inherited to the present.

…

…

“Every Talisman Master shall shoulder the responsibility to pass down what they have grasped or we can say that it is an irresistible responsibility. Just because previous virtuous masters shouldered their responsibility, and tried their best effort, the Talisman Taoism shall exist in the world.”

Looking at Ning Que who was lowering his head, master Yan Se said in a serious tone, “Finding a student like you already satisfied my entire life. However, it is sad that, as we said the earlier time, Talisman Taoism can only be inherited from its spirit not its techniques, so whether Talisman Taoism spirit can be passed down or not at my generation, it’s all up to you.”

Ning Que bowed to show his respect and replied, “I will try my best not to disappoint you.”

“Disappoint? What is disappointment? If I just want you to inherit Talisman Taoism, and then I believe you will not let me down for I have a pair of Talisman eyes and I know it is not difficult for you.”

“But my hope is more than that. I have a kind of feeling that there is a certain force which limits the inheritance of Talisman Taoism. You should know that none of Divine Talisman Master in the world, including me, could really see through Talisman Taoism. If we all unable to see it through, we naturally could not pass down the essence part, which is also the easiest part of Talisman Taoism.”

“I am too old to see it through. If you have a chance to achieve it in the future, I believe it will be easier to pass Talisman Taoism down. At that time, you can express ideas with Fu and control mountains and rivers by writing Fu… It may sound like a magic, but I strongly believe that one day all these can come true and must be realized by Talisman Taoism”

Master Yan Se peacefully said to him, “Ning Que, I hope you can be such a person.”

The more you expect, the more disappointed you will feel. If Ning Que didn’t want to disappoint master Yan Se, he had no choice but to shoulder the great expectation. Ning Que looked faintly into the distance, feeling like that two mountains were loaded on his shoulders.

“Can I be such a person?”

“You have to be such a person.”

Seeing master’s old and sad face, Ning Que suddenly opened his mouth and said, “Master, please teach me the most basic knowledge.”

Looking into Ning Que’s eyes for a long time, master Yan Se revealed a smile on his wrinkly face, comforted him and said to him in a soft voice, “A thousand journey is started by taking the first step. I wish you good luck.”

…

…

“How to draw Fu lines?”

“First, you need to sense Qi of Heaven and Earth, the more delicate, the better. Then, you draw the flowing trace of Qi of Heaven and Earth based on what you have seen.”

“If I can’t see it, how can I draw it?”

“Cultivators never see the world through eyes.”

“Through their feeling?”

“Exactly. Follow your feelings to draw it.”

“Can I draw it like a blind?”

“If so you have to stab your eyes first.”

Glancing at Ning Que in a mad mood, master Yan Se reached out a few books and throw them to Ning Que.

Ning Que was almost hit to death by these books.

For what he caught was not a few books, but dozens of them. Besides, each book was thick, it seemed that if put these books together they would be heavier than Chen Pipi. Ning Que even didn’t notice when the master moved these books here from the carriage.

Ning Que casually picked one up and opened it, and then he saw those meandering lines on the first page, and realized that these lines were not characters, even not paintings because they looked so ugly. Ning Que blankly asked, “These… are Fu lines?”

“Yes. These are Fu lines that I have collected my entire life, most of them are Taoist Fu.”

Master Yan se poured himself a cup of tea to wet his throat, and then continued to say, “These are the crystallization of the previous virtuous masters’wisdom. When you observe the trace of Heave and Earth in the later days, do not forget to refer to those Fu lines.”

“I have said that these are articles that only belonged to the Talisman Masters from earlier generations who wrote them in their own characters. Even though you are good at coping and can recite all the articles, the reader still could not understand it.”

Ning Que regrettably said, “I know, the reader’s surname is Heaven, his given name is Earth, and he is illiterate.”

And then Ning Que asked, “If it’s useless to plagiarize, what is the meaning of learning previous Fu lines?”

“Just like sensing Fu lines of Heaven and Earth, these Fu lines are for your reference. Do not let these things bind your imagination. You should observe these lines, understand their spirit, and then forget them. At last you’ll write Fu lines which belong to you.”

“Forget their trace and understand spirit? Isn’t it mean to forget characters’ figure and remember their meaning?”  Ning Que suddenly recalled the reading process in old Library and was shocked into speechless. It turned out that the method of Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong should be used at this time!

Noticing his shocked expression, master Yan Se frowned and asked the reason. After a moment of silence, Ning Que told Master Yan Se his reading method at the old Library, and also mentioned the origin of Chicken Soup Calligraphy.

“One day I found that using the method of Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong can barely understand the Fu lines left by Talisman Masters. Because of excitement, I went to the House of Red Sleeves to cheer up and got drunk, so I wrote that Chicken Soup Calligraphy. Maybe I thought nothing when I got drunk, and then I wrote all my understandings into that calligraphy which was admired by your master.”

Finishing this sentence, Ning Que looked at the sky out of the pavilion without realization, wondering whether this was a fate?

Master Yan Se said with a smile,”Haotian didn’t choose you, you have abilities and talents to win his choice.”

…

…

“Master, earlier time you casually drew some lines, and then I felt some water on my face. I know this is Fu, but I am not sure that people can also draw Fu in the air? If each Talisman Master’s Fu is unique, and then each Fu is absolutely different, you may control it by a writing brush and inks, but how can you control it in the air?”

“Even writing brushes and inks can not guarantee each Fu is completely the same, for different papers and different speed when you are writing. Fu follows Talisman Masters’ heart. Subtle differences are not that important, instead only if these subtle differences are not disobey Talisman Masters’ thought, and then they often can in line with Talisman Masters’ feelings at that time, so the effect will be better.”

Mater Yan Se continued to say, “Speaking of writing Fu in the air, it is more unstable compared with writing with brushes and inks. But Talisman Masters who can write Fu without brushes and inks have already controlled his Psyche Power. In other words, the first stroke is different from the next one, and then the final writing is totally different.”

Ning Que asked,”What kind of Talisman Master can control his Psyche Power to draw Fu without writing brushes and inks?”

Master Yan Se pointed at himself, answered with a smile, “A Divine Talisman Master.”

Ning Que suffered a great deal of mental shock and felt frustrated.

“I divided Fu into two categories, one is certain and the other is infinitive. A certain Fu depends on external things. No matter it depends on writing brushes and inks or carves or a statue, this kind of Fu takes a long time to finish, but it has greater power. An infinitive Fu depends on nothing. This kind of Fu can be finished in a minute, yet it is less powerful.”

Hearing these two words, certain and infinitive, Ning Que felt excited and remembered familiar characteristics of verbs, stuffs like adding “to” after an infinitive verb. But next second he cleared his head and realizd that he was learning Talisman Taoism here, not learning English at a special class. He rubbed his cheeks angrily, and then asked, “If so, why we have to learn infinitive, it… seems so hard.”

Master Yan Se stared at him as Ning Que was an idiot and replied, “Although the power of Talisman Taoism is great, cultivators in the same state, even a Psyche Master, can not beat a Talisman Master, but that is all talking. What if a Talisman Master really fights against other cultivators? If Liu Bai shoots a flying sword, is it possible that I find writing brushes and inks everywhere to write Fu?”

“When I sense that damn flying sword which was coming from cloud, all I would do is taking Psyche Power as ink and drawing my spirit in the air. So I can stop it for a while and earn some time for me to think about how to draw a Fu to fight back. At this time, what is the use of writing brushes?”

The more Ning Que listened to master Yan Se’s proud explanation, the more he felt something was wrong. He hesitated for a while before asking, “Master, did you really fight against Liu Bai, the best sage of sword in the world?”

“Hypothesis! It’s a hypothesis!”

Master Yan Se angrily yelled, thinking “That year my arm was hurt by Liu Bai’s flying sword, yet I also destroyed his half eyebrow. I won’t tell these brilliant achievements to you.”

“If you don’t want an arrow shooting through your chest in the future, infinitive is something you must learn.”

“But… you earlier said that only a Divine Talisman Master can know how to write an infinitive Fu.”

“You are very talented in Talisman Taoism, and now you meet a marvelous Talisman Taoism Master like me. Will it be difficult to be a Divine Talisman Master? When you go back home, you need to recite these brochures first, after this, you need to carefully feel the Qi of Heaven and Earth… ”

Ning Que faintly stared at those thick books that piled up like a small mountain, wondering “Are these brochures?”

Master Yan Se frowned and regrettably said, “You are still in a No Doubts State and can only understand a little rules of Qi of Heaven and Earth.” “But if you are in a Seethrough State, you can involve yourself in Heaven and Earth. Or if you step in a Knowing Destiny State, you will know the essence of Qi of Heaven and Earth, plus your talent, it will be easier to cross the first stage.”

Ning Que was wordless, thinking “If I am in a Knowing Destiny State, why I bothered myself to study Talisman Taoism?”

“Master, in your opinion, as my ability right now, after how many years I can become a Divine Talisman Master like you?”

“If you can concentrate on Talisman Taoism and leave the Academy for mountain to conduct penance with me, may be… after ten years.”

Ning Que regrettably sighed and said, “Ten years.”

Master Yan Se angrily yelled, “Ten years later you are under thirty years old. If you really become a Divine Talisman Master at that time, you are at least in top three during the thousand years cultivation history, won’t you be satisfied?”

Ning Que lowered his head, not because he was ashamed, but because he felt a little proud. He was thinking “With my talent, I can in the top three, if Chen Pipi knows this, will he be shameful?”

Looking at his lowered head, master Yan se gradually calmed down. He silently said to himself “It’s pity that I couldn’t teach you for ten years.”

An extremely important thing occurred Ning Que. He lifted up his head to look at master Yan Se, and said seriously, “Since I have made up my mind to learn with you, shall I change my appellation and call you teacher?”

Pondering for a while, master Yan Se shook his head and said, “Since you have entered the second floor of Academy, Headmaster of Academy is your teacher, and then there will be no second person is qualified to be your teacher in the world… you just call me master, which also sounds great.”

Ning Que felt his respect to the Headmaster of Academy, so Ning Que said with a smile after thinking, “How about Shifu?”

Master Yan Se smiled, thinking he was such a smart kid.

…

…

Of course Ning Que was smart.

He had proofed himself before, and so he did now. Yet addressing master Yan Se as Shifu had nothing to do with smart, it is a ability of reading some one’s face and toadying him. That was a ability he learned through tough life.

According to master Yan Se, there was no one could compete with the Headmaster of Academy who was his teacher right now, so others naturally felt unqualified to be his teacher. But after hearing for such a long time, Ning Que deeply felt that master Yan Se attached great importance to Talisman Taoism heritage and his successor. Under this situation, Ning Que surely wanted to have an official teacher-student relationship with him.

“When I started to call master Yan Se Shifu, well, well, a cordial and friendly atmosphere was full of that pavilion, we got along very well, we talked and laughed. Shifu gave me a first-meeting present in the end, why do you think he didn’t give it to me at the very first beginning?”

In the Old Brush Pen Shop at Lin 47th Street, Ning Que sat in his arm-chair, talking like a talking show player and splashing his spittle everywhere.

Sangsang, who was holding a hammer to fix their shop door destroyed the day before yesterday, directly ignored him.

Failing to get a response, Ning Que felt a little bored. He scolded, “Can you concentrate on listening to me?”

Sangsang was measuring the size of a plate that she asked from a carpenter shop, so she replied, “I’m busy.”

Ning Que angrily said, “Your young master will be a Divine Talisman Master in ten years, why are you not excited?”

Sangsang turned back to look at him, and answered, “Young master, that thing happens ten years later, but we have to fix this door today.”

Putting his teapot on a desk, Ning Que said, “Stop fixing it. Go out to buy something for me first.”

Feeling puzzled, Sangsang asked, “Why so hurry? The door is not fixed yet.”

“Buy me writing brushes, inks and something stuff like these.”

Ning Que wrote a note, handing it to her, and said, “It will take me ten years to be a Divine Talisman Master. It is too slow.”

“So I am going to study Talisman Taoism right now!”

“Size the day! Size the hour!”

Sangsang saw him with her bright eyes and looked at Ning Que who was waving with his arms, she hesitated for a while before asking, “Young master… ”

“Yep, what’s up?”

“Aren’t you too smug right now?”

“… Maybe kind of.”