"I never thought I would reach the realm of Night Roaming so quickly. According to the Dao Scripture, those who follow its teachings take at least a year of concentrated training to reach the realm of Night Roaming. How did I reach it so quickly?"
Hong Yi's spirit exited his shell and drifted out the door to roam. He felt very pleased.
The sun's rays beating down on his spirit felt no different from playing in water.
Both of his feet were one to two feet off the ground as he walked forward by floating. He didn't feel any weight at all while floating, but there wasn't that steady feeling one gets while walking in a flesh body.
In addition to the house's doors, not even the walls could block him. All he had to do was move his physical head a little, and then he would pass through.
The spirit is an idea that is invisible in quality–what walls and doors could hold it?
"Some of the reading notes give indications of a night where one mentally travels thousands of miles. It's said that Daoist priests and other people met face to face, but suddenly, they sat still and did nothing. After a day, they woke up and then told people about what had happened thousands of miles away. They told about how through effort, they were able to cause their spirit to move and journey thousands of miles away and return. However, those who heard it didn't believe them. But a month later, news that came from thousands of miles away suddenly showed that the Daoist priests had been completely correct. I don't know if I have the ability to travel thousands of miles or to even try–how fast can the soul drift? “
This was the first time Hong Yi's spirit had gone Night Roaming, so he felt this was new and odd.
After moving his physical head, his spirit seemed to understand, and thus he began to fly upwards. The speed of the spirit's drift also seemed to increase as well.
"Why is it so strenuous?"
Once his spirit drifted high up and the speed of the drift had increased, Hong Yi had a type of feeling; it was like he couldn't breathe. At the same time, his body felt a burst of cold, it was like a cold wind was blowing on him.
He immediately stopped moving his physical head.
"Just then, I drifted to the height of a person. Drifting around like this is the equivalent to an ordinary person running. So why is there pain like this? This doesn't explain the thousand mile roundtrip journey while day roaming being equivalent to an ordinary person walking. It's clear that my spirit is still not strong enough, but still the training methods of the Mituo Sutra, is very ruthless and dangerous. Just visualizing the buddha image repeatedly is already so difficult. It truly is. The Dao Scripture records the White Bones Concept, the Asura Concept, the Beautiful Woman Concept, the Flying Towards Heaven Concept, etc. From the experience of practicing these methods, I can say for sure it’s no wonder that this Mituo Sutra was the origin of the sect teachings."
Hong Yi had read the Dao Scripture. There were quite a few concepts on strengthening the soul.
For example, the White Bones Concept: where one visualizes the body being rotten and covered in maggots, along with the white bones of the body being visible. Only then can one eliminate the fear in one's heart.
There was also the Beautiful Woman Concept: where one visualizes oneself embraced by a beautiful woman doing sexually teasing actions. However, one isn't tempted and sticks to being motionless. This trains the thought of being ice cold in one's heart.
The Asura Concept was another one. One visualizes one's self staying in the middle of millions of demons without the slightest fear. This eliminates all fear.
In addition to all of these concepts, the Flying Towards Heaven Concept was also one. One visualizes the sky having a very strong attraction towards one's mind during the daytime. However, one resists the thought of flying towards heaven during the day. This helps eliminate delusionment in one's heart.
Hong Yi seemed to be training in all of these kinds of visualization concept situations. It appeared that when Hong Yi was training based on the concept of the Mituo Sutra, he was also completely experiencing all the other concepts through his senses. In other words, in the training of the Mituo Sutra, every path to enlightenment was being shown.
"Brother, I heard Hong Yi was called by Father a few days ago. Father even let the accountant give him a hundred Silver Taels, and let him prepare for the imperial examination after the start of spring. Is there a meaning behind this? Did Father begin to value Hong Yi? Father has never acknowledged this boy before."
Hong Yi drifted out the Manor through a corner. He wandered towards the south side of the Manor.
Right now, it was already the dead of night. Besides the servants holding lanterns that were on night patrol, the people in the Manor were all sleeping and dreaming.
But suddenly, Hong Yi heard a noise.
The sound was coming from a courtyard with high, red perimeter walls. Inside the courtyard, the hu, hu sounds of punching and kicking could be heard. The dialogue of people could also be heard.
The dialogue surprisingly brought up Hong Yi himself.
The southern courtyard in the Manor was called Lan Ting Zhai. It had a three story house that was the residence of the Lady.
In the Manor, there were three Ladies. The formal wife was distinguished from the other two Ladies, and that was Lady Zhao. She lived in the main section of the Manor and had given birth to two sons.
One of the official concubines, Lady Fang, lived in the Yun Ting Zhai, which was located at the eastern part of the Manor. She had given birth to a girl, Hong Xue Qiao.
The other official concubine, Lady Rong, lived in the Lan Ting Zhai located, in the southern courtyard of the Manor. She had given birth to a son.
The other unofficial concubines mainly lived in the west side of the Manor. They couldn't hold a side of the Manor like the three madams.
The servants that protected the manor, the housekeepers, accountants, slave girls, etc., mainly lived in the corner of north side of the Manor.
After Hong Yi passed through the wall, he saw two males sparring against one another. One was wielding a Qi Mei hardwood staff, while the seemed to be only using punches and kicks to attack his partner. The two of them were wearing sturdy silk clothing. There seemed to be a bit of a strong aura developing.
Wherever one person would go, the other would follow. They spared for a few rounds, then they stopped for a break. After stopping for a break, they then chatted with each other.
Hong Yi recognized these two people. The one holding the staff was Hong Gui, the son of Madam Rong. The one not wielding anything in his hands and guarding against the staff was Rong Pan, a relative of Madam Rong.
Hong Yi had met these people before. He had met them when he had been studying in the school of the Hong Family Clan.
"Young Master Gui, you don't need to be angered by those types of people."
In the middle of their conversation, Rong Pan thought of something to please Hong Gui.
"Hen, Young Master finally got a chance to meet with Father, but instead suffered a beating by breaking a family rule. It took half a year of laying on a bed for Young Master to recover."
There was resentment in Hong Gui's eyes.
"This Hong Yi, getting a reward after only meeting father one time. Surprisingly, the accountant withdrew one hundred Silver Taels for him. For what reason? Didn't this lowly son only pass the imperial examination? There's not anything else about him that's worthwhile."
Hong Gui ranted hatefully.
Rong Pan laughed.
"There's no need for Young Master Gui to become angry. I heard that Uncle of Manor isn't letting Hong Yi practice martial arts. In my Great Qian Dynasty's liberal arts, he can only become a government official and a part of military as well, but not nobility. Once Young Master Gui has mastered martial arts and goes to the military’s "Jiang Wu Hall" to pursue his dreams, Young Master can become at least a commander with Uncle of Manor's connections and prestige once Young Master graduates. After fighting several battles, Young Master could even become a Marquis. Why does it matter if this Hong Yi passed the imperial examination and became a government official? Maybe he'll say something that upsets the emperor. Confiscation of his property, being beheaded, or being banished are all common punishments for upsetting the emperor. Although my Great Qian Dynasty usually values scholars, when it comes to beheading and confiscation of property, we don't have any mercy."
"Although you say this, inside my heart, I still feel dejected."
Hong Gui placed the staff upright on the ground.
"Cousin, what are you afraid of? Hong Yi is just the son of a dead unofficial concubine. At school, I've met him before. He certainly has the expression and appearance of someone educated. If cousin still can't bear to see him, I'll find a fork and beat him with it once school starts."
"Even if there are really gods three inches above our heads, they’ll still scoff at the machining of the spiritual immortals. Hmph…."
After Hong Yi heard up to this part, inside of his heart, he coldly laughed. He had never thought that he meeting Marquis Wen Hou one time would secretly spark jealousy towards him.
However, inside of Hong Yi's heart, he understood why. Since Hong Gui drank heavenly wine and happened to be called by Marquis Wu Wen, he was beaten because he broke a family rule.
After hearing the plot, Hong Yi put up a guard against these people as his spirit secretly drifted away.
His spirit drifted towards the east courtyard.
When Hong Yi just arrived at the Yun Ting Zhai, he heard the peng of a crunching noise. It seemed that someone was frying something, or someone had smashed a porcelain vase.
Hong Yi drifted his spirit inside and saw Hong Xue Qiao standing in the middle of the courtyard, practicing martial arts.
The surroundings were completely quiet. There was only a small patch of moonlight that shined down.
Hong Xue Qiao's figure shuffled left and right. Every punch and movement she did made the crunching noise. It seemed like the wind produced by her punch were explosive. It also seemed that the bones in her body shaking.
There was a book placed on the ground. The book contained many body movements, along with many written characters and annotations.
Hong Yi was fascinated by the book and had curious thoughts. He wanted to flip open the seal of the book to see its name, but since his spirit shed his mortal body, he had no way of flipping through the book.
At the same time, Hong Xue Qiao's body skipped past the book. The skip brought a powerful gust of wind that flipped open the seal of the book. Hong Yi saw the five big characters of the title: Demonic Tiger Bone Training Fist Technique.
(TL: Sorry about it being six words, it's due to English to Chinese translations)
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