Chapter 85: Opening a Door for You

Su Chunfeng picked up the teacup, lowered his head to take a small, gentle sip of tea, and placed the cup down with a smile.

His composed appearance made it clear he had completely seen through Qian Ming’s petty thoughts, causing Qian Ming to feel awkward. Qian Ming forced a somewhat embarrassed smile and coughed twice to cover it up, saying, “After that, I began the difficult cultivation according to the Mind Cultivation Technique, Spell Incantations, and Hand Seals recorded in that book, and I’ve continued until now.”

“Hmm.” Su Chunfeng nodded and said, “You have talent, and you’ve been quite lucky.”

A smug look reappeared on Qian Ming’s face.

“Don’t be so pleased with yourself. If not for your exceptionally good luck, you would probably have died during the cultivation process without even realizing it.” Su Chunfeng gave a cold laugh and asked in a casual tone, “When you were a child, you encountered supernatural events multiple times, didn’t you? Well, to put it simply, paranormal events.”

“You… how did you know?” Qian Ming asked, astonished.

Su Chunfeng waved his hand and said, “Not only that. Ever since you started practicing Esoteric Techniques, your natural yin-yang eyes have closed on their own. If you don’t use techniques, you can’t see any Malignant Supernatural Entities. Moreover, you often have nightmares and feel evil things invading your body… Well, in your understanding, that probably means being haunted by ghosts, right? It’s precisely because of this that, despite possessing extraordinary skills, you live in constant fear. You crave fame and recognition but dare not show off. You constantly think about elevating your cultivation level to a higher realm, hoping that with more powerful Esoteric Techniques, you can rid yourself of all these predicaments.”

“You… you…” A chill ran down Qian Ming’s spine—this young high school freshman before him seemed capable of seeing through all his thoughts and intentions, as if he had the power of foresight.

Su Chunfeng picked up the teacup and took a sip of water, looking as calm as if he had just been discussing everyday trivial matters.

After a long silence, Qian Ming finally snapped out of his shock and asked in a trembling voice, “How… how did you know all this?”

“From the moment I entered this school, noticed that small Arcane Array, and saw you for the first time…” Su Chunfeng smiled. “I knew.” As he spoke, he waved his hand to stop Qian Ming, who seemed about to speak. “You are someone who cultivates Esoteric Techniques after all. Is there really any need to make such a fuss?”

“But, this…”

“You simply don’t understand Esoteric Techniques enough.” Su Chunfeng sighed lightly and looked at Qian Ming with a hint of pity. “In Spell Cultivation, one must have a master to inherit the teachings. You have no idea what the greatest taboos in cultivation are, what the different cultivation realms and levels are, how to break through bottlenecks, or how to suppress Inner Demons. You know nothing about these.”

Qian Ming shivered intensely. He stood up and bowed deeply with great respect. “I beg for your guidance, Master.”

“No need for such formality.” Su Chunfeng motioned for Qian Ming to sit down. “Do you know why I’m talking to you about all this?”

“Why?” Qian Ming was bewildered. In fact, he didn’t even understand why Su Chunfeng was asking why he was talking to him.

“Because you are a good person who did a good deed.” Su Chunfeng looked at Qian Ming with approval. “At the same time, you are also a pitiable person. Actually, when I first entered this campus and discovered the small Arcane Array you had set up, I wondered which foolish occultist dared to lay an array and perform arts on campus, and furthermore, set up an array that offered no benefit to themselves whatsoever. But later, after hearing about the ghost incident in the girls’ dormitory last year, I understood that you had done it to save someone. However, you had no idea that setting up arrays and performing Art Casting on campus would attract such severe heavenly retribution and Backlash. So, all this time, you saved others but brought suffering upon yourself. It hasn’t been easy.”

These words made Qian Ming feel both touched and deeply wronged—if he had known that setting up arrays on campus would lead to such serious consequences, he might not have done it back then.

“Performing good deeds without seeking recognition is a virtue,” Su Chunfeng said calmly. “What stings is wanting recognition but being unable to have it.”

Having his true nature exposed once again, Qian Ming’s face showed a mix of guilt and sheepishness. He knew that, given his personality, if he had done a good deed and could have it known, he would have wanted the whole world to know he was the one who did it.

The room fell silent.

After a while, just as Qian Ming was about to speak, Su Chunfeng, who had been lost in thought, spoke first. “Today, I will give you a general introduction to Esoteric Techniques. Pay attention.”

“Ah, okay, okay, I’ll get a pen…” Qian Ming excitedly reached for a notebook and pen on the table, looking intently at Su Chunfeng.

“No need to write. A superficial understanding is enough for now.” Su Chunfeng smiled and waved his hand, then his expression turned extremely stern and serious as he began to explain slowly and earnestly:

The esoteric studies consist of five arts: Shan (Mountain), Yi (Medicine), Ming (Destiny), Bu (Divination), and Xiang (Physiognomy).

Shan is the Dao. It is the highest art within esoteric studies, said to be the cultivation technique for mortals to achieve immortality and enlightenment. It encompasses everything and is a metaphysical pursuit of transcendence. Therefore, the “Mountain” art does not mingle with the mundane world. Only the four arts of Yi, Ming, Bu, and Xiang are passed down among the common people. You can think of the Mountain Sect art as Daoist techniques, or even the goal pursued and cultivated by enlightened masters of various religions. This is also why they renounce worldly life and cultivate in seclusion.

Yi is virtue. It includes three branches: herbal formulas, acupuncture, and Spiritual Healing. Herbal formulas refer to medicines, commonly known as Chinese medicine, which can cure illnesses and eliminate their roots. Acupuncture is based on the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, using needles on acupoints to cure diseases, or assisting with herbs and strong heat moxibustion on acupoints to clear meridians, improve blood flow, and dissolve stagnation to achieve healing. Spiritual Healing is the most difficult to master and the most mysterious art within the medical branch. It is the precursor to what the modern world calls hypnosis and top-tier psychological therapy. Simply put, it uses suggestion and hypnosis to concentrate mental focus and perform surreal psychological healing. The “Zhu You Thirteen Categories” passed down through generations is a Spiritual Healing technique, commonly known as Folk Sorcery healing. It utilizes methods involving spirit, incantations, Talismans, Chinese herbs, and more. Do not underestimate the medical arts. Medical techniques can kill or harm people often without a trace, which is why medical arts emphasize moral character.

Ming is principle. It uses the changes, laws, and circumstances of magnetic fields in time and space to judge a person’s destiny. It includes astrology, stem-branch techniques, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, and the Sixty-Four Hexagrams deduction techniques, among others. It involves complex calculations and deep exploration of supernatural theories of time and space, hence Ming is principle. The purpose of Ming arts involves long, enduring, and far-reaching timeframes with extremely broad coverage.

Bu is number. Among all esoteric arts, “Divination” has the longest history and the most practitioners. The most famous are the so-called three supreme divination techniques: Liu Ren, Tai Yi, and Qimen Divination. Among these, Tai Yi focuses on heavenly forces, used to predict state affairs, something emperors avoid, so it is not widely known. Qimen Divination focuses on earthly forces, used to predict collective matters, mainly warfare. It is a technique with formidable destructive power, often used in military, political, and family development matters. Liu Ren focuses on human forces, used to predict human affairs and infer fortune, misfortune, disaster, and blessing. Note that Liu Ren’s fortune-telling differs from the art of Ming (Destiny). From the numbers of these three supreme divination techniques later evolved various methods passed down through generations, such as prophecy, dream interpretation through signs, character analysis through writing, lot drawing, name studies, as well as exorcism, spirit expulsion, demon subjugation, and monster elimination. Oh, and by the way, the martial arts known to us ordinary people actually evolved from Qimen Divination as well. It is precisely because of this that for thousands of years, the hidden society formed by worldly practitioners of esoteric studies has been collectively referred to as the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts.

Finally, the last art, Xiang!

Xiang is the foundation, bearing human destiny and the source of the land. It includes human physiognomy and geomancy, both being the basis for a person’s success, failure, fortune, and misfortune in life—human physiognomy includes palm reading, face reading, body reading, mole reading, bone reading, etc.; geomancy includes Feng Shui of mountains, rivers, and geography, as well as the art of siting for tombs (yin dwellings) and houses (yang dwellings). Therefore, throughout history, those who cultivate the “Physiognomy/Divination Art” are often called physiognomists or Feng Shui masters.

…

After finishing his explanation, Su Chunfeng picked up the teacup and slowly took a sip of the now somewhat cold tea.

What he had just explained might seem mysterious and profound, something he shouldn’t casually share with others. But Su Chunfeng knew that any ordinary person willing to put in the effort could find similar records in related books and materials; it really wasn’t any great secret. Moreover, encountering someone like Qian Ming—who had incredibly good luck and talent, a kind heart but a vain and big mouth—if in the future he really managed to break through cultivation barriers on his own and lost his sense of caution, he might one day let something slip and spread the word about Su Chunfeng. By then, Su Chunfeng would have nowhere to turn to complain.

Right now, Su Chunfeng intended to overwhelm Qian Ming with his presence, leaving him with an extremely deep-seated taboo—he must not reveal Su Chunfeng’s identity and must listen to Su Chunfeng, or else great disaster would befall him.

At this moment, Qian Ming was completely stunned!

Although he had found similar accounts of what Su Chunfeng explained in various books, hearing it firsthand from a mysterious master of Esoteric Techniques suddenly made Qian Ming clearly feel a vast, profound, mysterious, and ancient historical aura enveloping him. Especially when Su Chunfeng mentioned the term “Jianghu of Esoteric Arts,” it made Qian Ming feel that his past self had truly been like a frog at the bottom of a well.

At this moment, Su Chunfeng seemed to have opened a mysterious door for him.

Qian Ming believed that once he stepped through that door, he would enter a boundless, majestic, mysterious, eerie, dangerous, and bloody world of the Jianghu.

“Can… can I enter the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts?” Qian Ming asked tremulously, his voice full of hope.

Su Chunfeng frowned and said coldly, “You are still far from becoming a true Occultist… let alone entering the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts.”

Qian Ming, overflowing with excitement, pleaded, “Then… then could you tell me what the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts is like?”

“Jianghu…” A pang of sadness hit Su Chunfeng’s heart. He tilted his head back slightly, looking up at the white ceiling, unable to stop himself from thinking of past events from a previous life. He sighed, feeling a surge of complex emotions. “Where there are people, there is Jianghu, because people cannot escape the two words ‘fame’ and ‘profit.’ Practitioners of the Mountain Sect in esoteric studies are mostly those who have left secular life; they do not enter the mundane world but arrogantly view other practitioners of Esoteric Techniques as Jianghu ruffians. Those who enter officialdom view folk practitioners as part of the Jianghu. And within the Jianghu itself, due to differences in schools of Esoteric Techniques, conflicts arise over interests, reputation, power, and other worldly gains, leading to mutual hostility, scheming, and strife. When they clash, they use mysterious techniques with absolute destructive power, such as incantations, suppression arrays, star prayers, martial arts… and the five secrets of Immortal, Dao, Illusion, Spirit, and Warfare all emerge… thus creating the so-called division between righteous and evil. Actually, when it comes down to it, isn’t the distinction between righteous and evil in this world just a matter of human hearts?”

“You…” Qian Ming couldn’t help but use a respectful form of address. He looked at this young high school freshman, who now displayed such a world-weary demeanor, with a mix of shock and disbelief. He felt as if he had encountered a living immortal, a monster! Qian Ming bit his tongue hard, swallowed, and asked in a trembling voice, “How… how can you say such things?”