Chapter 8 The Blessings Accumulated Over Several Lifetimes

  "Is the mystery of the profound heart decided?"

  Xuan Qi was stunned, this name sounds like it's from a Chinese martial arts secret manual?

  "Yes." Lin Qinghe nodded, a look of regret on his face. "The charred ancient book you saw in the box is called 'Xuan Gong's Secret Record'. Unfortunately, this book was lost in a great fire and our Xuan family also cut off its most important inheritance because of it.

  "What we learned later was all passed down through oral tradition, but this method, although confidential, is prone to errors and omissions. By the time it reached my generation, it had basically become non-existent, leaving only some superficialities behind. Even the 'Xuan Xin Ao Miao Jue' only retained part of its physical techniques, while its mental techniques have long been lost."

  Our family actually has such a profound heritage? Xuan Qi was shocked after hearing it.

  "Grandfather, is our Xuan family a martial arts family?" he asked.

  Xuan Qing shook his head: "Of course not. Strictly speaking, we should belong to Daoism."

  Taoist? Xuan Qi was stunned again.

  So it seems that our Xuan family are all Taoist priests, and what's more, we're the kind of Taoist priests who can get married and have children, just like those from Wudang.

  And he himself is also a little Taoist? Xuan Qi learned about this news and felt that it was indeed a bit strange.

  Xuan Qing and Xi Yi sat down, then said: "Originally, I didn't plan to tell you these things, intending to take them to the grave with me. However, since you unexpectedly laid the foundation, I'll tell you about our Xuan family's matters."

  Xuan Qi heard this and suddenly sat up straight, he suddenly discovered that he seemed to know nothing about his own family.

  As he spoke, Xuan Qing inserted his fingers into the teacup and dipped them in water. On the table surface, he wrote four ancient, mysterious characters with a peculiar twist. Xuan Qi only vaguely recognized two of the characters as "Xuan Men", but didn't know the other two. However, he did know that this script had been used in ancient times; he faintly recalled seeing it in pictures from his history textbooks.

  "Grandfather, what is this character?" Xuan Qi asked.

  "This is the Great Seal Script, which was popular during the Western Zhou period. These four characters are exactly the name of our Xuanmen Sect - Xuanmen Zhengzong!"

  "Our family's sect? The Xuanmen Orthodox Sect?" Xuan Qi suddenly opened his eyes wide.

  It wasn't that he had heard of the name, but rather that he had never thought that the Xuan family would have a family sect, which was also unbelievable.

  And besides, Xuanmen Zhengzong is a really strange name.

  "Xuán Mén" is just "Xuán Mén", yet it's even added with a "Zhēng Zōng", why the extra move? Xuán Qí thought to himself.

  "Grandpa..."

  Xuan Qi had just wanted to ask a question when Xuan Qing interrupted him, saying: "You don't need to speak, just sit and listen carefully."

  Xuan Qing and the following content greatly subverted many concepts of Xuan Qi before.

  In China's long history, there was a class of people who played an indispensable role in the development of society as a whole. They were Fangshi, that is, those with magical powers, also known as Fangshi or Shushi, but after the Eastern Han Dynasty, they were directly referred to as Daoist priests.

  Fangshi is a complex group in society, playing an indispensable role in politics, economy and culture.

  As in the Warring States period, Guiguzi was a master of strategic tactics, Bian Que was an outstanding famous doctor, and Zou Yan was a master of the Five Elements theory, all of whom were well-versed in astronomy, calendar, geography.

  For example, Xu Fu of the Qin Dynasty, Zhang Jue of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms, Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty, Chen Tuan of the Song Dynasty... and so on. These people have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields and played an immeasurable role in Chinese society.

  Fangshi, in other words, is a general term for scientists, experts and scholars in ancient China, with very complex social composition. The "Hou Han Shu · Fangshu Liezhuan" states that "if it's not the right person, the Tao will not be practiced in vain". This means that if someone is a real Fangshi, they must have real skills.

  However, few people have known that the Fangshi are usually just called by outsiders, and they prefer to call themselves "Xuánshì", meaning those who practice Xuánmén. The skills they learn are collectively referred to as Xuánmén secrets, or simply Xuán techniques.

  In fact, the Xuan Shi has existed since the ancient era of Xuanyuan Huangdi, or even earlier.

  It is said that more than 4,500 years ago, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan fought against Chiyou at Zhuolu for nine battles and was defeated nine times. In a critical moment, the Yellow Emperor had a dream one night in which the Nine Heavens Xian Nü transmitted the Heavenly Book to him. The Yellow Emperor learned the secret techniques of the Xuanmen sect and subsequently defeated Chiyou.

  The Nine Heavens Xuan Nü is one of the earliest known Xuan Shi, revered as the ancestor of the Huaxia Xuanmen.

  Huangdi later worried that Chi You's subordinates would continue to rebel, so he ordered Chong Li to create characters, ordered Feng Hou to perform and sort out, and finally compiled the Xuanmen secret technique into a book, named "Long Jia Shen Zhang".

  It is said that the "Dragon Armor Scripture" is vast and profound, encompassing all the mysterious skills of the Xuanmen. Not only does it contain the Five Elements, numerology, Feng Shui, medical divination, and Guaxiang, but also knowledge from the fields of astronomy, geography, strategy, and tactics. It even includes extraordinary skills such as Qimen Dunjia and Dao Fa Shen Tong, which are considered to be heavenly secrets.

  This content can be summarized in five words: "mountain, medicine, fate, physiognomy, divination". Although these five systems are distinct, they actually intersect and complement each other.

  Yamabushi includes secret arts for cultivating the mind and training the body, which are said to be further divided into five categories: Senjutsu (hermit arts), Dōhō (Taoist methods), Genjutsu (mystical arts), Goryō (spiritual arts) and Heigeki (military tactics).

  In the five systems, the "Mountain" department's secret art is the most mysterious, only a few Taoist rituals, magic and military formations have been passed down.

  The medical department, that is, the technique of traditional Chinese medicine, includes three major parts: acupuncture, prescription and spiritual therapy. Among them, acupuncture and prescription are widely spread, while spiritual therapy is extremely rare in China, but hypnosis is very popular abroad, actually hypnosis belongs to a kind of spiritual therapy.

  Destiny, also known as the art of destiny, is to infer a person's life trajectory and six relatives' fortune by their birth time and space. Destiny mainly includes GanZhi method and astrology, which can be further divided into sub-schools such as Qi Zheng Si Yu, Zi Wei Dou Shu, Wu Xing Shu, Jian Chu Shu, Si Zhu Ba Zi, etc.

  Divination, mainly used for predicting good or bad luck. Divination is also divided into Shi Bu, Guà Bu, Za Bu and Yi Zhan. Among them, Taiyi, Qimen, Liu Ren are Shi Bu; Mei Yi, Liu Yao are Guà Bu; Cezi, Zhān Mèng, Chōu Qiān are Za Bu; Shī Shì, Tóu Qián are Yi Zhan... etc.

  The most profound and extensive of all the mysterious arts of the Xuanmen is divination, which has been transmitted the widest and has the most branches. Among them, Qimen Dunjia, Liuren Shu, and Taiyi Shu are the three great mysterious arts revered as the supreme methods of the Xuanmen, gaining insight into one or two of them can stir up interest.

  Physiognomy, including astrology (star divination), geomancy (feng shui), and physiognomy of human beings (facial features, palmistry, body shape, voice, bone feeling, mole reading, etc.)

  In the midst of the mysterious gate, there are five major systems: "Mountain, Medicine, Fate, Physiognomy, and Divination". Anyone who can learn even a little bit from any one of these systems can become a dragon among men, like Zhou Gong Ji Dan or Jiang Zi Ya, who reached the pinnacle of power and became high-ranking officials; or like Bian Que and Hua Tuo, who became revered and beloved medical sages, able to save lives and heal wounds; or perhaps become great strategists like Gui Gu Zi, Zhuge Liang, or Ge Hong, who "borrowed the power of heaven and earth to accomplish supernatural feats".

  Unfortunately, the "Dragon Armor Chapter" is an ancient mysterious scripture that only exists in legend. Some people say it doesn't exist at all, after all, so many years have passed and no one has ever really seen it. Others say that this scripture isn't as powerful as the legend says, it's just been exaggerated over time.

  However, one thing is certain: the mysterious skills of the Xuanmen have indeed existed all along and have been passed down through various means. From ancient times to the present, outstanding figures in the Xuanmen have emerged one after another, each claiming to be the "orthodox school" of the Xuanmen, having received the true transmission of the Xuanmen, and no one can convince anyone else.

  This chaotic situation continued until the early Sui Dynasty, about over 1,300 years ago, when a sect directly named "Xuán Mén Zhèng Zōng" suddenly emerged and rose to prominence. With its powerful strength and authentic transmission of secret skills, it quickly gained recognition from all other Xuán Mén sects in the land of China, becoming the true and legitimate Xuán Mén Zhèng Zōng.

  The founder of the "Xuán Mén Zhèng Zōng" sect is Xuányáng Zǐ, also known as "Xuányáng True Man", and he is also the ancestor of the Xuán family.

  Xuanyangzi is a true legendary figure, whose rapid rise has left people speechless. There are countless versions of his legend, but one relatively widely accepted version is that he indeed obtained the true inheritance of Xuandao's secret skills. When he founded "Xuandao Orthodox" back then, the strength and Xuandao's secret skills shown to the outside world were the best evidence, which was also the main reason why other Xuandao fellow practitioners finally recognized the identity of Xuanyangzi's Xuandao Orthodox.

  Xuanyangzi was the first master of the Xuandao Orthodox School, and after his ascension to immortality, the Xu family's inheritance continued for generations. However, after several hundred years, the Xuandao Orthodox School also gradually declined due to wars, natural disasters, lack of successors, and other reasons. Furthermore, because of the guilt of being suspected of treason, the Xu family had to gradually live in seclusion, disappearing from the eyes of the world.

  The Xuanmen Orthodox was truly devastated during the Ming Dynasty, not only did internal divisions occur, but later a mysterious fire also broke out, burning the Xuan family's library to ashes, many rare and secret books were lost in the flames, including the most important book of the Xuan family, "Xuan Gong Secret Records".

  Later, although the Xuan family also produced some talented individuals who wanted to recreate the glory of the past, due to the discontinuity and loss of classics and inheritance, the Xuan family was already a name without substance, having long lost the halo of "Orthodox Xuanmen". Some other sects of Xuanmen also gradually began to redeclare themselves as the orthodox lineage of Xuanmen.

  In the near modern era, another disaster struck the Xuan family. The war fire burned to their village, and the ten-year catastrophe destroyed all the remaining classics. Xuan Qing and his wife brought their children to southern Hunan to escape the disaster, and finally settled down here.

  Xuan Qi had been completely unaware of these things before, but now listening to Grandfather's account one by one was like listening to a heavenly book, his heart was stirred and his eyes were wide with wonder.

  Although it's hard to believe, his intuition told him that these things seemed to really exist, at least the recent events that had happened to him couldn't be explained by common sense.

  "Grandfather, so it seems what everyone says about you being able to tell fortunes is true?"

  "Fortune-telling is just a general term, which involves destiny, divination and physiognomy, depending on the situation. As the 27th generation successor of the Xuanmen Orthodox School, I still understand some of these things. Unfortunately, the legacy of my ancestors has been lost by the time it reached me." Speaking to this point, a hint of desolation appeared on Xuancheng's face.

  There was something that Xuan Qing didn't say out loud. Many of the things he grasped weren't actually the true heritage of the Xuan Men's orthodox school, but rather what he had learned from other Xuan Men factions.

  "Does this stuff really work?"

  The question that had been lingering in Xuán Qí's mind was finally asked out loud. Having received a materialistic education since childhood, he used to sneer at things like Feng Shui and fortune-telling, viewing them as feudal superstitions. Although he has experienced some unbelievable events recently, this notion cannot be changed overnight.

  Xuan Qing looked at Xuan Qi and said, "Little Qi, the things passed down by our ancestors are mostly summaries of life experiences and natural phenomena. Some things can't be explained by current technology, just like how people couldn't explain why birds could fly hundreds of years ago. Things that have been passed down for thousands of years must have their reasons. I hope you can verify them yourself and observe with your own eyes. Ah, your sudden foundation building, who knows whether it's good or bad luck for our Xuan family."

  "Nonsense! This is naturally the blessing that your Xu family has accumulated over several generations! With my help, your grandson's future achievements will be boundless and it's not impossible for him to surpass that little brat Xuan Yang."

  The voice in Xuan Qi's mind sounded again, unfortunately, this voice was completely unheard by Xuan Qing.

  Xuan Qi originally had many questions he wanted to ask his grandfather in his heart, but after hearing this voice, he didn't continue asking anymore.

  The old turtle in his body saw him and immediately mentioned Xuanyangzi, and from the tone of his voice, it seemed that he was still very familiar with him. This old ghost seemed to know more than his grandfather.

  "The Demon of the Mystic Gate" latest chapter is released by Yunqi Book Academy, the fastest and most popular online release site! (This site provides: traditional pagination, waterfall two modes, can be selected in settings)