Chapter 186: Drinking Tea
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Searching for two people who would be willing to learn the Emotionless Swordsmanship was very hard. Chu Nanping had already turned 11 years old. Three years ago, she became a servant for the Immortal Peng in her brother’s stead. Since then she had been learning the basics of the Secrets of Love . After passing many tests, she was then able to become the first candidate for the Emotionless Swordsmanship.
It took a year to meet the killer Yang Huan.
Stone Castle had many cruel and cold-blooded killers, and South City was also full of machetemen who killed without batting an eye. However, none of them were qualified as “heartless.”
“Heartless killers kill without bloodlust.” A youth, younger than the teenager Gu Shenwei by many years, named Chu Nanping, was explaining seriously, “Being heartless, it’s natural to kill without mercy, but there is also no feeling of excitement or joy. To be heartless is to be emotionless.”
Gu Shenwei had killed many people due to various reasons, but he had never become addicted to killing and he even hated the sight of freshly spilled blood. This “flaw” had never been corrected, but he had never claimed himself to be “emotionless.” He could still feel anger and grief; especially when it came to the vengeance of his loved ones. This was the complete opposite for Chu Nanping – this child was even indifferent to the death of his brother.
“You’re just a baby who still needs to learn the ropes.” Chu Nanping said while appearing to be a little saint who had been cultivating in the path of immortality.
Gu Shenwei’s first step to “learning the ropes” was how to drink tea properly.
Joy Pavillion was a teahouse but it was not open to the public. Gu Shenwei was sitting with 30 other hideous people of the “same sect” and in front of each person was a cup of tea, with a very strong color, being sipped on so slowly that it would take about an hour just to finish one cup. These cups would immediately be refilled by the waiters, and they would drink about 3 to 6 cups a day.
The tea was very bitter, causing Gu Shenwei to almost throw up after his first sip. However, this was also a part of practicing martial arts; it had to be drunk with nothing left in the cup. In fact, every mouthful of the tea had to sit in his mouth until the bitterness receded before he could swallow it.
Everything became different after getting used to the taste of bitterness.
It was as though a bucket of warm water had been poured down from the top of his head: making his whole body feel light and soft; allowing him to peacefully breathe; he felt as though he was floating in the air, and his nervous heart was put completely at ease. At this moment, even if someone was shouting and cursing from across the room, Gu Shenwei would just react with a smile.
He was prepared to accept any sorts of teachings, without question and without fear – he would believe whatever people told him. Suddenly, he heard a heavenly melody.
The sound was coming from the floor above. It was monotonously weak, so one had to listen very attentively. The rhythm was quite unique: every hour would either have intervals as little as a dozen or as many as a few hundred.
Hearing this melody for the first time, Gu Shenwei’s heart began to beat violently and his face flushed blood red. He almost fell off his chair. Chu Nanping had once informed him of a special method within the “Secrets of Love,” and showed him a unique practice. Though Gu Shenwei did not understand it at all, he still followed along. To his surprise, his heartbeat returned to normal.
Gu Shenwei drank a total of three days worth of tea before he managed to touch the tip of the iceberg that was the path of Drinking Tea kung fu. The melody was coming from Immortal Peng’s walking stick up on the third floor. To ordinary people, these sounds were just sounds, but to those practicing Drinking Tea kung fu, these very natural sounds would cause their acupuncture points to suddenly pulsate.
After his heartbeat was able to keep up with the rhythm of the melody, Gu Shenwei entered a trance.
Gu Shenwei’s first time feeling a pulsation was at the Shaochong acupoint on his finger. After beating 10 times, it started moving upward in accordance with the Heart’s Meridian along the hands and arms. The number of beatings at each acupuncture point was different; some beat as little as three or four times, others as many as a few dozens. After the pulsation ended, he began to feel his pores open and blood circulate all over his body – as if his acupoints transformed from ponds to lakes, and his meridians expanded from small creeks to rivers.
Gu Shenwei had never heard of this practice method for internal strength. He was feeling curious and uneasy; he felt as if there was a vine from the third floor crawling down the walls, entangling everyone’s legs, wrapping around the legs of every table, and lastly reaching out its tentacles – drilling into the hearts of the tea drinkers.
Since his face to face conversation with Immortal Peng, Gu Shenwei had not seen him. However, with the progress of practicing the Secrets of Love, he felt some connection with the dwarf. As the vine grew thicker and thicker, cutting it off would become harder and harder.
Whenever anxiety arose within, the bitter tea would spread pleasant sensations and cleanse the body of any agitations.
Gu Shenwei was like a disheartened pessimist who would walk step by step into the deep water, completely aware of the imminent danger, and not stop himself.
Gu Shenwei spent five days opening the acupoints within the Heart’s Meridian. According to Chu Nanping, this was relatively fast. Next was the Meridian of the Large Intestines, which only took three days. At last, the Kidney Meridian took the longest eight days. After one month, he was able to open all Twelve Primary Meridians.
This was followed by the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, starting from the Yang Heel Vessel to the Governing Vessel, in which he spent half a month’s time.
When the Eight Extraordinary Meridians communicates with the Twelve Primary Meridians, the results would then achieve grand circulation. Internal breathing would flow through all the acupoints without obstructions. Only two acupoints were the exceptions: the Hundred Meetings and the Jade Rotator. These two acupoints were occupied by the Peripheral Force and were not affected by Immortal Peng’s melody. There was no response at all. With basic skills, one could not remove the hidden dangers yet.
As time passed day by day, Gu Shenwei indulged in the bittersweet taste of the tea. As if addicted, he would feel unpleasant if he did not drink it every day.
In fact, this practice method was not very important to him. The Peripheral Force had been limiting his internal energy, and he had already achieved harmony between the forces within very quickly. He was still able to increase all of his powers, but the flow of the meridians greatly helped to maintain internal circulation – just like a horse that runs faster on a flat and wide road with zero obstructions. Gu Shenwei felt that his reaction time was much faster than ever before.
The feeling of a light pulsation from the acupoints was wonderful. Gu Shenwei was experiencing a kind of rebirth. Even if it was useless, he did not want the feeling to stop.
There was no end to the kung fu of Tea Drinking. After all of the acupoints open, it would keep repeating until the “path” had been further widened.
Tea Drinking was only one of the basic skills. For the rest of the time, Gu Shenwei was learning the Lightness Skills from Chu Nanping.
Emotionless Swordsmanship from the “Secrets of Love” had seven different realms. The first being “Lighter than the Sword,” lightness skills were the most important here and Chu Nanping already accomplished this step. He was able to run a full circle around the peace trees behind the Joy Pavilion without his feet ever touching the ground.
Practicing the art of harmony was not very suitable to learn the lightness skills. Gu Shenwei’s progress was very slow. In the first month, he was like a big clumsy bear chasing a swift little rabbit, thus he was often disdained by Chu Nanping.
Gu Shenwei felt that it was unfair; his internal strength was far stronger than this heartless little kid. With such deep roots, how did the leaves on the branches not flourish?
Only until he directed the blood flow of his lower limbs to the Yang Heel Vessel to open up this acupoint, was he able to advance by leaps and bounds. He quickly made his progress and was even able to slightly pass Chu Nanping.
Heartless Swordsmanship’s second realm was “Sword Heavier than Mountains.” Ordinary kung fu teachings usually were “from heavy to buoyant”, but this swordsmanship was the complete opposite, to achieve “from buoyant to heavy.” Chu Nanping was also starting to grasp his stage. These two “heartless people” finally converged and were able to jointly study this swordsmanship together.
As time went by, Gu Shenwei was nearing an emotionless state. He had forgotten the internal struggle between the twins and the Shangguan family, and he had even forgotten to meet Maid Lotus. He didn’t even notice that the strange words of the Death Scriptures had finished being written, because he was pouring his heart out practicing the most important part of the sword book.
He often reminded himself that this was a mutual transaction, remembering the other purpose of being here. He would occasionally keep a state of peace in his mind and observed Joy Pavilion, discovering many hidden secrets.
The person in charge of the teahouse was a 30-year-old man, his face was often covered with a thick layer of powdered makeup, and he had a pair of naturally dreary eyes. Gu Shenwei had seen him the first time he came to Joy Pavilion, though he had only recently discovered that his name was Tang Ji.
Tang Ji and the other workers were not kung fu practitioners. Their only duty was to serve tea, refill tea, and to serve the guests that came to this location for fortune-telling.
Immortal Peng’s fame was not due to his kung fu, but it was due to his amazing fortune-telling. He would predict 15 people’s fortunes every single day. Appointments had to be made in advance for those who sought their fortunes to be told. Unfortunately, those who had made appointments would still have to wait on the second floor that very same day – waiting to be consulted immediately or even having to wait until night.
The fortune teller was Immortal Peng, but the one who always spoke were the puppets. Many people did not know this; they all thought that the one speaking to them was the living God himself. After leaving Hope Valley, these people vowed to describe the Immortal’s appearance to outsiders. As a result, Joy Pavilion gained a reputation of mysteriousness.
During the process of fortune-telling, Gu Shenwei had gradually figured out the background of Immortal Peng: he was a top-class master who specialized in hypnosis. He could not only use his disciples’ mouths to speak for him, but he could also even force those who had come to him to seek their fortunes, to willingly speak of their past as well as their future wishes. This was how the reputation of the “Living God” came to pass.
Tea drinking to increase your internal energy was also related to hypnotism. Those bitter teas can make anyone fall into a state of excitement and confusion, in which they are more likely to accept the control of Immortal Peng.
After discovering this, Gu Shenwei became vigilant and feared that, in the end, he would also unknowingly fall under the control of Immortal Peng and become one of his puppets.
These concerns were completely unnecessary. Although Gu Shenwei was drinking his tea in the Joy Pavilion, he was never called to the third floor to speak for Immortal Peng like one of his puppets. The disciples in the building were in fact coming and going freely, like Ye Silang who had already left much earlier. He pretended to have returned from conquering the world and his name became famous all over Jade City. Joy Pavilion had never actually provided him help when he was in danger, but they have also never revealed the truth.
Of the bizarre and disoriented disciples, some were disfigured. Gu Shenwei did not know their real identities even at the end.
Gu Shenwei completely trusted this transaction; he felt that it was a good bargain. He also believed that sooner or later, the Baihui and the Xuanji acupoints would also follow along with the melody and pulsate, and the two acupoints would be freed of Peripheral Force’s influence. As the practitioners of the Emotionless Swordsmanship had to have one die, in the end, he did not think about this at all.
Gu Shenwei was already caught deep in the web and gave up all struggles. This had been his plan since the very beginning. Now, he just needed a powerful awakening.
