Gateway of Immortality

Yang Zhen strode in a dignified manner, exuding authority without anger. With a sweep of his tiger-like eyes, the courtyard fell silent.

"You all," Yang Zhen said, pointing to his formal disciples with a voice as resonant as a bell, shaking the roof tiles, "go fetch your horses and head to the training ground outside the city. Today, I will test your martial skills."

The group of young men scattered in a flurry. Qin Sang was still a bit bewildered when a tall, slender youth grabbed his arm and said, "Brother, why don’t you ride with me? My name is Huang Chen. How should I address you?"

This Huang Chen seemed to be the oldest among them. Seeing that the others were pairing up, Qin Sang followed him, saying, "My name is Qin Sang. Brother Huang, where are we going?"

"The training ground is outside the city; we need to ride the escort agency's horses to get there."

The Wuwei Escort Agency was located in the southern part of the City of Three Witches, with the training ground built outside the southern gate. Since Qin Sang didn’t know how to ride a horse, Huang Chen took him along.

The two of them rode side by side, galloping towards the city gates. As they approached the southern gate, they saw a squad of soldiers in bright armor standing at attention. The soldiers had blocked the gate, not allowing any commoners to pass through, and a large crowd had gathered at the entrance.

Everyone had to dismount and lead their horses. After asking around, they learned that the Zhenshui King was heading to Baoguo Temple to offer incense and pray for blessings for the holy emperor. The royal procession had already departed from the palace.

Baoguo Temple was located on Luoma Mountain, fifteen li west of the City of Three Witches, but the southern gate was the main gate, so for such a grand ceremonial event, the procession had to exit through the southern gate.

They patiently waited in the crowd, and soon the sound of drums and gongs announced the arrival of the procession. The Zhenshui King's entourage passed by, flanked by elite guards. The exquisite carriages in the center were heavily curtained, obscuring the view of those inside.

Curious, Qin Sang stood on tiptoe, trying to catch a glimpse.

The luxurious procession exited the city gates, and the roadside was packed with makeshift shelters for refugees.

Qin Sang noticed that the guards accompanying the commandery king's carriages wore cloth armor with the character "Zhen" embroidered on their backs. The color, style, and even the lettering were identical to what he had seen on Bai Jianglan’s men, except that Bai Jianglan’s men had worn short armor with the character "Dong" on their backs.

This scene stirred Qin Sang’s thoughts, and he subtly inquired about it with Huang Chen.

Huang Chen, suspecting nothing, whispered, "Brother Qin, you may not know this, but they aren’t ordinary soldiers; they are the king's personal guards. According to the Great Sui's ancestral laws, commandery kings are allowed to establish their own elite forces of five hundred men, essentially their private army. These personal guards are either selected from the military or recruited from among martial artists, and they are all highly skilled. They usually guard the palace, and only when the king, the princes, or the commandery lords travel do they serve as escorts. Not just the Zhenshui King, but all commandery kings have similar personal guards. The ones you saw before must have been the personal guards of the Dongyang King."

Qin Sang pondered this.

He recalled hearing from Water Monkey that there were eight commandery kings in the Great Sui, one of whom was indeed the Dongyang King, the current emperor's brother. Though Water Monkey seemed careless, he had been very tight-lipped, revealing no secrets.

It turned out that Bai Jianglan was the leader of the Dongyang King’s personal guard, a position higher than Qin Sang had imagined. That mysterious young lady was probably either the king's lover or his daughter.

Once the commandery king’s procession had passed, the crowd was allowed to move on. After leaving the city, they rode for a while before turning off the main road and into the mountains, arriving at a manor that, according to Huang Chen, was also owned by the escort agency.

The manor had a large, flat training ground.

The young men lined up in the training ground, and Yang Zhen separated them. Qin Sang was grouped with three others who were there to learn only a single martial art.

Yang Zhen first tested his disciples, then instructed them to practice on their own before coming over to teach the four of them.

The other three already had some experience, so Qin Sang, being the weakest, felt that Yang Zhen wasn’t paying much attention to him.

However, the silver was well spent, as Yang Zhen lived up to his reputation and taught the Tiger Subduing Long Fist with great diligence. He even told Qin Sang that he could come every day until he mastered it.

In just one day, Qin Sang learned the final seven moves of the Tiger Subduing Long Fist from Yang Zhen.

What surprised him, though, was that the first three moves Yang Zhen taught were significantly different from what Bai Jianglan had taught. The moves themselves were the same, but Yang Zhen lacked many of the finer details.

These details had a significant impact on the effectiveness of the techniques.

Having practiced the first three moves for so many days, Qin Sang felt this difference even more deeply.

Yang Zhen had a stellar reputation and wouldn't hold back on such a basic martial art, so the difference likely lay in their own abilities.

It is said that Yang Zhen’s martial arts ranked in the top ten in the City of Three Witches. Does he have internal force? Is Bai Jianglan a top-tier expert?

Regardless, the money had been spent, and he needed to continue learning the martial art. Qin Sang decided to try incorporating the details Bai Jianglan had taught him into the remaining seven moves.

The distance between Qingyang Temple and Wuwei Escort Agency’s manor wasn’t far, so Qin Sang went to train every day and then taught the Tiger Subduing Long Fist to Ming Yue upon his return. Soon, he had mastered the entire form.

However, he continued to visit the manor frequently, listening to Yang Zhen’s disciples discuss martial arts and hearing many tales of the martial world. He also learned horseback riding and archery.

In the third month of spring, the grass grew tall, and orioles flew about.

In past years of famine, by this time, the disaster victims would have returned to their villages to sow their fields. But this year, rumors spread that the rebellion in the north was worsening, with smoke and fire everywhere, causing a continuous stream of refugees to migrate south.

Man-made calamities proved to be worse than natural disasters.

The Netherworld Scripture had shown no progress. Despite repeatedly convincing himself to be patient, Qin Sang couldn't stay calm. He could only blame his lack of progress on not working hard enough, so he began meditating and cultivating throughout the night, pushing himself to the brink of madness.

During the day, he still had to practice martial arts, recite scriptures, and help the old Daoist. With such a schedule, he was almost always busy, but since meditation and cultivation also restored his energy, he didn't feel exhausted.

As moonlight streamed into the stone house, Qin Sang stared blankly out the window. The bright full moon hung in the sky, and a shooting star streaked across the desolate night sky, disappearing beyond the distant mountains into the vast, endless world.

After six months of effort and nearly four months of sitting in meditation, he finally sensed the qi described in the scriptures!

What people fear most is not perseverance, but perseverance without hope.

Yet when the moment of real progress arrived, he realized that all his efforts had been worth it.

When he finally sensed that faint, cool thread of qi, Qin Sang felt as if he were in a dream.

The strand of qi was as thin as a hair, like a mischievous child darting around in his dantian[1]. Qin Sang tried to "grasp" it to feel it more clearly but found it impossible.

The Netherworld Scripture stated that one could only "view internally" after breaking through the second stage of the technique. For now, the only thing Qin Sang could do was guide the qi into his meridians, carefully following the path outlined by the cultivation method.

After several cycles through the cosmic orbit, nothing went wrong, and Qin Sang relaxed. Just as he was about to calm his mind and focus entirely on cultivation, a sudden, terrifying pain shot through his meridians.

Qin Sang's entire body trembled violently, and he curled up into a tight ball, letting out a low, agonized growl. His clothes were instantly soaked in cold sweat.

1. Dantian is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the "qi focus flow centers", important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as tai chi, and in traditional Chinese medicine. ☜

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