CH 3
Chapter 3 – Disheng
From the outside looking in, the palace hall seemed murky and unclear. But from the inside of the palace hall, the lights cast long rays of light, illuminating the place brightly. The main palace hall was more than 5 zhang tall, and was decorated very simply, with only a jade censer for burning incense and a document table. In contrast to the opulence of the capital city of Zhenhai, it was akin to the difference between clouds and mud.
“Come in, Xiao’er. I heard from Elder Shadow that you’ve given me a truly remarkable grandchild,” a clear and sonorous middle-aged voice resounded from deeper within the palace hall. Xu Xiao jumped momentarily in fright. He had immediately rushed over here on horseback and even silenced all of the maids and servants, but his father had already known about it nonetheless.
The Elder Shadow that he spoke of was his father’s Dao protector, and he was one of the most powerful elders in the Xu Clan. His strength was shrouded in mystery, and even Xu Xiao had only seen him a handful of times.
“Father,” Xu Xiao greeted. He didn’t dare to overthink, and he immediately entered the rear palace hall with the infant in his arms. In the rear palace hall was only a single octagonal Dao platform, upon which Xu Chaoyang was sitting.
“Cultivating this, cultivating that… If this Martial Technique can be cultivated to the Xiantian stage, then there’s no such thing as martial arts…” Xu Chaoyang grumbled to himself. When he noticed that Xu Xiao entered, he raised his gaze to look at him, then nodded his head slightly. He took the infant into his arms, and his expression grew solemn. Lowering his voice, he said quietly, “Hand me the thing.”
Xu Xiao took out the delicate jade flute and handed it over to Xu Chaoyang. After scrutinizing it for a long time, Xu Chaoyang’s expression became grave. “For one to possess a Xiantian Life Partner Artifact, it is rumored that they are an almighty reincarnated being or an Innate Saint, but our Xu Clan doesn’t know for certain…”
Xu Xiao exclaimed in shock, “Could this really be true?!”
“I don’t dare to come to a conclusion on it, since in the end, those legends are truly too ancient and archaic. Even my father had never heard of an actual instance of a Xiantian Life Partner Artifact appearing,” Xu Chaoyang replied. After closely sizing up the baby for a while, he said, “You must absolutely not divulge this matter to outsiders. Just raise him like you would any ordinary heir, take good care of your wives, and act like you don’t know about this matter! If this matter gets leaked…”
A murderous glint momentarily flashed in Xu Chaoyang’s eyes.
“Yes, Father,” Xu Xiao answered in a low voice. Inwardly, he was always somewhat afraid of Xu Chaoyang. After looking at the baby for a moment, he opened his mouth once more and said, “This child still doesn’t have a name. I hope Father can bestow him with a name.”
Xu Chaoyang was fiddling with the jade flute, but he couldn’t detect even a shred of spiritual qi from it despite the radiance that circulated within. After he heard what Xu Xiao said, he replied, “Let’s just call him Disheng then.”
“Yes.”
All of a sudden, the cyan jade flute began to tremble, as if it wanted to struggle free from Xu Chaoyang’s palm. Xu Chaoyang’s brows furrowed slightly. He released the strength of six elephants that he possessed from cultivating the Heavenly Dipper Martial Technique, and held onto it tightly.
But the cyan jade flute weaseled through a crack in his fingers as if it was soft and flexible, and it came to float in the middle of the air above Xu Disheng’s forehead, emitting brilliant cyan light as it spun slowly.
Xu Chaoyang and Xu Xiao’s expressions became grave as they saw the infant basking underneath the cyan glow, when he suddenly began to open his eyes slowly. Xu Disheng had woken up, but although he had been sleeping because his infant body tired easily, his consciousness was always alert.
The warm streams of qi emanating from the cyan light of the small, exquisite jade flute were continually nourishing his body with vigor, washing away his fatigue, which gave him the strength to awaken. When he saw his own “father” and “grandfather”, he wanted to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, all that came out was an incoherent babbling that sounded much like ‘googoo gaga’. Frustrated, he had no choice but to shut his mouth.
Then, as if gods and demons were at work, Xu Disheng opened his mouth and sucked a breath in. The jade flute that had been floating and circulating in the air was sucked into his mouth and disappeared without a single trace.
(TL Note: 鬼使神差 is a Chinese idiom, which literally means “as if gods and demons were at work”, which just describes something completely supernatural or an unexplainable occurrence.)
Xu Xiao was completely dumbstruck. Although he was a cultivator of Martial Techniques, he had never seen something as miraculous as this. He hurriedly turned his head to look at Xu Chaoyang.
Xu Chaoyang shot him a glance back and snapped, “What are you making a fuss for? How are you going to be in charge of our Xu Clan in the future if you get surprised over something like this?” Although he said this, he had a slightly happy expression on his face. “Our Xu Clan has been blessed with this child. Tonight, I will convene an Elders’ Meeting, and we will decide on our course of action. For now, you can take him and go back.”
“As you wish, Father,” Xu Xiao replied.
Back on the extravagant horse-drawn carriage, Xu Disheng was being carried in Xu Xiao’s embrace. He could feel Xu Xiao’s complex mood, but he did not think too much of it. He closed his eyes, sensing the cyan jade flute that was hovering within his sea of consciousness. It gave him a kind of strange sensation, as if it were an image directly imprinted within his brain.
Although Xu Disheng couldn’t recall any of his memories, he was aware that being self-aware of his own consciousness as a newborn infant was something out of the ordinary. He only knew that somehow this jade flute was residing within his sea of consciousness. In his mind, he silently visualized the jade flute, where it spun slowly within his sea of consciousness, spilling out a cyan light.
It was important to note that out of the countless Xiantian martial artists in the world, if one were to be picked randomly, the chances would be incredibly low for that person to have reached the realm of opening up their sea of consciousness! Xu Disheng was just an infant, but he had already opened up his sea of consciousness upon birth. If this was known to anyone else, it would inevitably cause them to go crazy!
The cyan light that spilled forth took the form of a word written in ancient seal script, which began to impart to him an Internal Cultivation Method. It was called Soul Song, and it was split into 7 core mantra forms: Nurturing Soul, Soul Limit, Sealing Soul, Soul Devour, Soulslayer, Soul Division, and Soul Requiem.
Although they were split into 7 different forms of mnemonic chants, their effects were all completely different from one another. In fact, the first one was already in effect, which was the Nurturing Soul Mantra. It involved absorbing the essence of the sun and moon in order to nourish and strengthen the soul, which gave rise to Soul Force. This core mantra was the foundation to cultivating the Soul-Soothing Song. The other forms’ mantras still hadn’t been made known to him, but Xu Disheng wasn’t worried. He could just slowly begin practice according to the Nurturing Soul Mantra.
This was a cultivation world, and his Life Partner Jade Flute provided him with a Life Partner Cultivation Method, which let him cultivate Soul Force. Xu Disheng cultivated for a while, but he hardly made any noticeable progress because his mind felt somewhat jittery. When he opened his eyes, he saw Xu Xiao’s handsome face turned towards him, and he felt the corners of his mouth lift slightly.
When Xu Xiao saw the baby’s big, clear, black and white eyes looking back at him with a hint of a smile, his heart felt touched somewhat, and he held the baby a bit tighter to his chest. With a hint of joy in his eyes, the outwardly frivolous young clan master said smilingly, “Father said you might be a Innate Saint, but how could that mean that you aren’t my son?”
Xu Xiao reached out and lightly pinched the baby’s soft, supple cheeks, smiling to himself. Xu Disheng couldn’t resist at all since his body was powerless, so he just closed his eyes and let him be. But for some reason, he felt a calm begin to resonate deep inside in his heart, as if a voice was murmuring tenderly to him from within.
Although Xu Xiao had numerous sons and daughters, he rarely expressed his emotions. But as he faced this very special eleventh son of his, he felt a bit at a loss for what to feel. When he remembered Xu Chaoyang’s instructions, Xu Xiao quickly adjusted his state of mind and said in a lowered voice, “Is Xu Cheng present?”
“At your command!”
“Announce to the entire capital city that this morning, my eleventh son was born, and that his name will be Xu Disheng. Tonight, we will have a celebratory feast. Invite the other two great clans of the Ruyang Region, as well as the presiding Guo Clan.
“As you wish, Young Patriarch!”
Between the aloof great clans, there had always been mutual interaction. This time it would be this clan having a son, and then next time it would be the other clan having a daughter; everyone in the great clans would always mutually congratulate each other and exchange presents. It was a pretext for everyone to gather and strike private business deals over the feast. As a result, whenever an important person gave birth to a child, arranging a celebratory feast had long since become a routine convention.
“Young Patriarch…” Xu Cheng began, slowing down his horse as if he had something to say.
“No need to hem and haw, just spit it out,” Xu Xiao snapped in a reprimanding tone, feeling somewhat displeased.
“I just received a message that Young Master Jin has already arrived in Zhenhai City.”
“Send a message back saying I will return to the Fragrant Pillar at once.”
“Understood.”
Jin Qingzhao was the eldest son of Jin Hai, the Patriarch of the Jin Clan, and he was Xu Xiao’s elder brother-in-law. He was similarly frivolous, loose, and uninhibited, and since a few years ago, he and Xu Xiao had been like birds of a feather. They would often go out and frequent brothels together. But ever since Xu Xiao assumed his role as the Young Patriarch, he became swamped in all kinds of work, and the amount of time he had to go out and fool around was much less.
At the moment, it had only been about 4 hours since Jin Yu gave birth, but Jin Qingzhao had already managed to receive the news. Although the two clan’s fiefdoms bordered each other, the Jin Clan’s capital city was about 300 li away to the southwest of the Xu Clan’s Zhenhai City. It was clear from this that Jin Qingzhao was exceptionally well-informed, and he must have rushed over quickly on horseback without rest.
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From the outside looking in, the palace hall seemed murky and unclear. But from the inside of the palace hall, the lights cast long rays of light, illuminating the place brightly. The main palace hall was more than 5 zhang tall, and was decorated very simply, with only a jade censer for burning incense and a document table. In contrast to the opulence of the capital city of Zhenhai, it was akin to the difference between clouds and mud.
“Come in, Xiao’er. I heard from Elder Shadow that you’ve given me a truly remarkable grandchild,” a clear and sonorous middle-aged voice resounded from deeper within the palace hall. Xu Xiao jumped momentarily in fright. He had immediately rushed over here on horseback and even silenced all of the maids and servants, but his father had already known about it nonetheless.
The Elder Shadow that he spoke of was his father’s Dao protector, and he was one of the most powerful elders in the Xu Clan. His strength was shrouded in mystery, and even Xu Xiao had only seen him a handful of times.
“Father,” Xu Xiao greeted. He didn’t dare to overthink, and he immediately entered the rear palace hall with the infant in his arms. In the rear palace hall was only a single octagonal Dao platform, upon which Xu Chaoyang was sitting.
“Cultivating this, cultivating that… If this Martial Technique can be cultivated to the Xiantian stage, then there’s no such thing as martial arts…” Xu Chaoyang grumbled to himself. When he noticed that Xu Xiao entered, he raised his gaze to look at him, then nodded his head slightly. He took the infant into his arms, and his expression grew solemn. Lowering his voice, he said quietly, “Hand me the thing.”
Xu Xiao took out the delicate jade flute and handed it over to Xu Chaoyang. After scrutinizing it for a long time, Xu Chaoyang’s expression became grave. “For one to possess a Xiantian Life Partner Artifact, it is rumored that they are an almighty reincarnated being or an Innate Saint, but our Xu Clan doesn’t know for certain…”
Xu Xiao exclaimed in shock, “Could this really be true?!”
“I don’t dare to come to a conclusion on it, since in the end, those legends are truly too ancient and archaic. Even my father had never heard of an actual instance of a Xiantian Life Partner Artifact appearing,” Xu Chaoyang replied. After closely sizing up the baby for a while, he said, “You must absolutely not divulge this matter to outsiders. Just raise him like you would any ordinary heir, take good care of your wives, and act like you don’t know about this matter! If this matter gets leaked…”
A murderous glint momentarily flashed in Xu Chaoyang’s eyes.
“Yes, Father,” Xu Xiao answered in a low voice. Inwardly, he was always somewhat afraid of Xu Chaoyang. After looking at the baby for a moment, he opened his mouth once more and said, “This child still doesn’t have a name. I hope Father can bestow him with a name.”
Xu Chaoyang was fiddling with the jade flute, but he couldn’t detect even a shred of spiritual qi from it despite the radiance that circulated within. After he heard what Xu Xiao said, he replied, “Let’s just call him Disheng then.”
“Yes.”
All of a sudden, the cyan jade flute began to tremble, as if it wanted to struggle free from Xu Chaoyang’s palm. Xu Chaoyang’s brows furrowed slightly. He released the strength of six elephants that he possessed from cultivating the Heavenly Dipper Martial Technique, and held onto it tightly.
But the cyan jade flute weaseled through a crack in his fingers as if it was soft and flexible, and it came to float in the middle of the air above Xu Disheng’s forehead, emitting brilliant cyan light as it spun slowly.
Xu Chaoyang and Xu Xiao’s expressions became grave as they saw the infant basking underneath the cyan glow, when he suddenly began to open his eyes slowly. Xu Disheng had woken up, but although he had been sleeping because his infant body tired easily, his consciousness was always alert.
The warm streams of qi emanating from the cyan light of the small, exquisite jade flute were continually nourishing his body with vigor, washing away his fatigue, which gave him the strength to awaken. When he saw his own “father” and “grandfather”, he wanted to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, all that came out was an incoherent babbling that sounded much like ‘googoo gaga’. Frustrated, he had no choice but to shut his mouth.
Then, as if gods and demons were at work, Xu Disheng opened his mouth and sucked a breath in. The jade flute that had been floating and circulating in the air was sucked into his mouth and disappeared without a single trace.
(TL Note: 鬼使神差 is a Chinese idiom, which literally means “as if gods and demons were at work”, which just describes something completely supernatural or an unexplainable occurrence.)
Xu Xiao was completely dumbstruck. Although he was a cultivator of Martial Techniques, he had never seen something as miraculous as this. He hurriedly turned his head to look at Xu Chaoyang.
Xu Chaoyang shot him a glance back and snapped, “What are you making a fuss for? How are you going to be in charge of our Xu Clan in the future if you get surprised over something like this?” Although he said this, he had a slightly happy expression on his face. “Our Xu Clan has been blessed with this child. Tonight, I will convene an Elders’ Meeting, and we will decide on our course of action. For now, you can take him and go back.”
“As you wish, Father,” Xu Xiao replied.
Back on the extravagant horse-drawn carriage, Xu Disheng was being carried in Xu Xiao’s embrace. He could feel Xu Xiao’s complex mood, but he did not think too much of it. He closed his eyes, sensing the cyan jade flute that was hovering within his sea of consciousness. It gave him a kind of strange sensation, as if it were an image directly imprinted within his brain.
Although Xu Disheng couldn’t recall any of his memories, he was aware that being self-aware of his own consciousness as a newborn infant was something out of the ordinary. He only knew that somehow this jade flute was residing within his sea of consciousness. In his mind, he silently visualized the jade flute, where it spun slowly within his sea of consciousness, spilling out a cyan light.
It was important to note that out of the countless Xiantian martial artists in the world, if one were to be picked randomly, the chances would be incredibly low for that person to have reached the realm of opening up their sea of consciousness! Xu Disheng was just an infant, but he had already opened up his sea of consciousness upon birth. If this was known to anyone else, it would inevitably cause them to go crazy!
The cyan light that spilled forth took the form of a word written in ancient seal script, which began to impart to him an Internal Cultivation Method. It was called Soul Song, and it was split into 7 core mantra forms: Nurturing Soul, Soul Limit, Sealing Soul, Soul Devour, Soulslayer, Soul Division, and Soul Requiem.
Although they were split into 7 different forms of mnemonic chants, their effects were all completely different from one another. In fact, the first one was already in effect, which was the Nurturing Soul Mantra. It involved absorbing the essence of the sun and moon in order to nourish and strengthen the soul, which gave rise to Soul Force. This core mantra was the foundation to cultivating the Soul-Soothing Song. The other forms’ mantras still hadn’t been made known to him, but Xu Disheng wasn’t worried. He could just slowly begin practice according to the Nurturing Soul Mantra.
This was a cultivation world, and his Life Partner Jade Flute provided him with a Life Partner Cultivation Method, which let him cultivate Soul Force. Xu Disheng cultivated for a while, but he hardly made any noticeable progress because his mind felt somewhat jittery. When he opened his eyes, he saw Xu Xiao’s handsome face turned towards him, and he felt the corners of his mouth lift slightly.
When Xu Xiao saw the baby’s big, clear, black and white eyes looking back at him with a hint of a smile, his heart felt touched somewhat, and he held the baby a bit tighter to his chest. With a hint of joy in his eyes, the outwardly frivolous young clan master said smilingly, “Father said you might be a Innate Saint, but how could that mean that you aren’t my son?”
Xu Xiao reached out and lightly pinched the baby’s soft, supple cheeks, smiling to himself. Xu Disheng couldn’t resist at all since his body was powerless, so he just closed his eyes and let him be. But for some reason, he felt a calm begin to resonate deep inside in his heart, as if a voice was murmuring tenderly to him from within.
Although Xu Xiao had numerous sons and daughters, he rarely expressed his emotions. But as he faced this very special eleventh son of his, he felt a bit at a loss for what to feel. When he remembered Xu Chaoyang’s instructions, Xu Xiao quickly adjusted his state of mind and said in a lowered voice, “Is Xu Cheng present?”
“At your command!”
“Announce to the entire capital city that this morning, my eleventh son was born, and that his name will be Xu Disheng. Tonight, we will have a celebratory feast. Invite the other two great clans of the Ruyang Region, as well as the presiding Guo Clan.
“As you wish, Young Patriarch!”
Between the aloof great clans, there had always been mutual interaction. This time it would be this clan having a son, and then next time it would be the other clan having a daughter; everyone in the great clans would always mutually congratulate each other and exchange presents. It was a pretext for everyone to gather and strike private business deals over the feast. As a result, whenever an important person gave birth to a child, arranging a celebratory feast had long since become a routine convention.
“Young Patriarch…” Xu Cheng began, slowing down his horse as if he had something to say.
“No need to hem and haw, just spit it out,” Xu Xiao snapped in a reprimanding tone, feeling somewhat displeased.
“I just received a message that Young Master Jin has already arrived in Zhenhai City.”
“Send a message back saying I will return to the Fragrant Pillar at once.”
“Understood.”
Jin Qingzhao was the eldest son of Jin Hai, the Patriarch of the Jin Clan, and he was Xu Xiao’s elder brother-in-law. He was similarly frivolous, loose, and uninhibited, and since a few years ago, he and Xu Xiao had been like birds of a feather. They would often go out and frequent brothels together. But ever since Xu Xiao assumed his role as the Young Patriarch, he became swamped in all kinds of work, and the amount of time he had to go out and fool around was much less.
At the moment, it had only been about 4 hours since Jin Yu gave birth, but Jin Qingzhao had already managed to receive the news. Although the two clan’s fiefdoms bordered each other, the Jin Clan’s capital city was about 300 li away to the southwest of the Xu Clan’s Zhenhai City. It was clear from this that Jin Qingzhao was exceptionally well-informed, and he must have rushed over quickly on horseback without rest.
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