Chapter 7: The Furnace of Transformation, Creation of Nature

“I remember every word they said as they passed me,” Su Yun said, his voice calm.

“After I went blind, I could only recognize people by their voices. If I hear their voices again, I will definitely recognize them.”

At that moment, rustling sounds came from the distant forest, and several foxes with blood-stained faces peeked out from under the trees.

“Little… Little Yun…” A fox called out from afar, looking at Qiu Shuijing with some fear.

After last night’s massacre, these once fearless little foxes had become somewhat afraid of humans.

Su Yun’s face lit up with joy, and he stood up: “Brother Hua Er? You’re still alive?”

It was a fox with black and yellow fur, emerging from under a tree, followed by several small foxes. The little foxes held onto the tails of their companions in front of them, walking over with trepidation.

The leading fox, Hua, looked at Qiu Shuijing with trepidation again, and after confirming that he was not one of those who massacred Huqiu Village, he bravely led the remaining three small foxes closer.

Su Yun stood there, making Hua and the three small foxes feel instantly at ease. This young man was like their backbone, giving them a sense of reliance.

This feeling was not unfounded; it was the result of six or seven years of interaction, influenced by Su Yun’s calm and composed demeanor.

“…Some city people came this morning, saying they didn’t get what they wanted in the ghost market, so they came to subdue demons and eliminate evil. Sir reasoned with them, but they ignored him, only saying that we would harm people…”

Su Yun listened quietly and asked, “Brother Er, do you still remember their faces?”

Hua shook his head, ashamed: “I was running away with my younger siblings and didn’t have time to see their faces clearly. I only remember one of them was very handsome, not old, wearing fiery red clothes, and fire suddenly appeared behind him, with divine birds flying out of the fire…”

Su Yun noted this characteristic, turned around, and bowed: “Does Sir Shuijing’s promise still stand?”

Qiu Shuijing looked at the young man prostrate on the ground, and after a moment, he said, “Of course, my words stand. However, do you have money?”

Su Yun stood up and spread his palm, revealing several blood-stained Five-Zhú coins. They were likely found in the ruins when he was collecting the bodies earlier.

Qiu Shuijing picked up one Five-Zhú coin from his palm, but at that moment, Su Yun handed him all the other Five-Zhú coins.

Qiu Shuijing was startled for a moment, looking at him in confusion.

Su Yun looked up: “Mr. Wild Fox taught me for six years and did not cast me out because I am human. I beg you, Sir, not to cast them out because they are foxes.”

Qiu Shuijing pondered and said, “Did Mr. Wild Fox charge you for teaching you?”

Su Yun shook his head.

Qiu Shuijing returned the blood-stained Five-Zhú coins to him and said, “He taught without charging. If I were to charge these fox demons, then I would be inferior to him. This Five-Zhú coin is your tuition fee; they don’t need to pay.”

Su Yun accepted the Five-Zhú coins.

Qiu Shuijing watched him and Hua bury Mr. Wild Fox and the fox demons of Huqiu Village together.

Many of them were their classmates, and Hua and the little foxes couldn’t help but cry loudly again.

They returned to the academy. Qiu Shuijing glanced at Su Yun and the four foxes and said, “What Mr. Wild Fox taught you was the Master’s Qi Cultivation Scroll, wasn’t it? How many years have you studied it?”

Su Yun nodded: “I’ve studied for six years.”

Hua said, “I’ve studied for seven years.”

The other three little foxes had also studied for two or three years each.

Qiu Shuijing said indifferently, “Although the Master’s Qi Cultivation Scroll is an orthodox qi cultivation method, how can there be textbooks that remain unchanged for five thousand years in this world? In this era, ten years without change is considered outdated. When I came to the countryside, I found that the gap between urban and rural areas seemed to be a thousand years apart!”

He shook his head and said, “What I will teach you is the newest and most basic foundation-building method from the official academy in the capital, the Qi Cultivation Scroll of the Great Furnace Transformation.”

Moreover, heaven and earth are the furnace, and creation is the craftsman;

Yin and Yang are the charcoal,

And all things are copper.

This sentence is the general outline of the Qi Cultivation Scroll of the Great Furnace Transformation.

The Master’s Qi Cultivation Scroll originally only used the simplest method to nourish vital qi. Although it was simple and easy to learn, it was difficult to cultivate deeply.

However, the Qi Cultivation Scroll of the Great Furnace Transformation treats one’s body as heaven and earth, containing a great furnace within, stimulating the potential of creation, using the Yin and Yang qi within the body as charcoal, and the five internal organs, six viscera, tendons, bones, and blood as copper, to refine powerful vital qi.

Although this qi cultivation method is complex, it is extremely effective, and its cultivation speed is many times faster than the Master’s Qi Cultivation Scroll.

Qiu Shuijing started from the shallow and moved to the deep, first explaining how to absorb the essence of the sun and moon, treating oneself as heaven and earth, and heaven and earth as a great furnace. Then he explained how creation acts as a craftsman, and then how to use Yin and Yang as charcoal and all things as copper.

Su Yun and the others originally had shallow foundations, and the Qi Cultivation Scroll of the Great Furnace Transformation was indeed profound. Even a master like Qiu Shuijing spent five or six days just to get them started and learn the upper part of the Qi Cultivation Scroll.

Among them, Hua learned the fastest. He had a foundation in the Master’s Qi Cultivation Scroll, so it was easy for him to pick up.

The other three little foxes were next, and only Su Yun learned the slowest. He couldn’t see, so Qiu Shuijing had to teach him hand-by-hand repeatedly, which was extremely arduous.

Fortunately, although Su Yun’s learning speed was slow, his mind was flexible, he could infer from one example, and his understanding of the Great Furnace Transformation was the deepest.

These past few days, Su Yun invited Hua and the other three little foxes to live in Tianmen Town, but Hua and the others were extremely afraid of Tianmen Town and preferred to stay in the academy.

Su Yun also invited Qiu Shuijing to live in Tianmen Town, but Qiu Shuijing politely refused, and the young man had no choice but to give up.

One morning, Qiu Shuijing was leading one person and four foxes in breathing exercises, facing the rising sun, when he suddenly felt as if a small sun had appeared beside him. He couldn’t help but open his eyes to look, and it was in Hua’s direction.

“Although Hua is a demon, his aptitude and comprehension are quite good. He has already cultivated to the first stage.”

Qiu Shuijing nodded secretly. Absorbing the essence of the morning sun, using oneself as a furnace, refining the body, and cultivating vital qi—this was precisely the sign of cultivating to the first stage of the Great Furnace Transformation.

For Hua to be able to cultivate to this point in five or six days was remarkable even among scholars.

Qiu Shuijing checked the other three foxes. Although the three little foxes had shallow foundations, their progress was not slow, and they would cultivate to the first stage before long.

He then checked Su Yun’s progress and frowned slightly.

Although Su Yun’s understanding of the Great Furnace Transformation was very deep, he was, after all, blind. He could learn the theory, but for his body to master it, he had to put in several times more effort than others.

Moreover, Su Yun’s slow progress in cultivation was somewhat beyond his expectation.

According to his prediction, because of his eye condition, Su Yun would learn the slowest, but his cultivation speed should be the fastest. He didn’t expect Su Yun to be the slowest one instead.

Qiu Shuijing sighed inwardly: “My expectations for him were still too high. Even fox demons can cultivate to the first stage in such a short time, but he cannot. His eye condition affects him too much.”

However, he did not know that Su Yun’s vital qi was vigorously circulating within his body, but each time it reached his eyes, a strange phenomenon would suddenly occur.

Su Yun’s vital qi flowed into his eyes, and his originally pitch-black eyes suddenly “saw” things!

Before his “eyes,” the Heavenly Gate appeared out of thin air!

Besides the Heavenly Gate, there were also eight tall and majestic Celestial Que!

Behind the Heavenly Gate and the Celestial Que was a vast and boundless ocean.

The Celestial Que of Tianmen Town had long been lost, so these eight Celestial Que were naturally not the Celestial Que of Tianmen Town, but rather imprints in Su Yun’s eyes.

It was just strange that the eight Celestial Que were actually absorbing Su Yun’s vital qi!

The eight Celestial Que were like eight bottomless pits.

The Celestial Que continuously devoured Su Yun’s vital qi, causing him to be unable to cultivate to the first stage of the Great Furnace Transformation.

Qiu Shuijing had not anticipated such a change in Su Yun’s eyes and thought he was merely intelligent with ordinary aptitude.

And Su Yun thought this situation was treating his eye condition, so he didn’t tell Qiu Shuijing about the strange phenomena that occurred during his cultivation, leading to Qiu Shuijing’s misunderstanding.

After the morning lesson ended, Qiu Shuijing began to consider leaving.

After all, he was a private tutor, and there were many scholars from noble families in Shuofang City who needed his instruction, so he couldn’t stay in Tian Shi Yuan for too long.

He roughly imparted the latter part of the Qi Cultivation Scroll of the Great Furnace Transformation to everyone and then departed.

“Yun, in today’s world, it is difficult for commoners to rise to prominence. Why?”

As Su Yun saw him off, Qiu Shuijing hesitated for a moment, then earnestly taught him: “Although children from common families have access to national official schools, studying alongside children of aristocratic families, which seems fair, aristocratic children have money and power. Besides official schools, aristocratic children also attend private schools. While you learn one thing in official school, aristocratic children can learn two, three, four, or five things in private school. Thus, the gap in knowledge between commoners and aristocrats continues to widen.”

Su Yun followed him closely, saying, “I heard that diligent study by commoners can lead to success…”

“Wrong! With private schools, commoners can never be more diligent than aristocratic children! What is taught in official schools is broad and generalized, but in private schools, they can invite teachers like me!”

Qiu Shuijing said, “Aristocratic children are more diligent than commoners! When official school lets out, children from the countryside run off to play, while aristocratic children are studying in private schools! When official school is on holiday, commoners are at home, while aristocratic children are still studying in private schools!”

“Emperor Yuan promoted official schools, hoping for equality in education for all, without distinction between commoners and aristocrats. But a hundred years have passed since Emperor Yuan’s time, and education has actually been monopolized by aristocratic families. Children from common families don’t have money to attend private schools, and they can’t learn the latest knowledge in official schools. Class stratification is becoming increasingly severe. The path for commoners to advance, the path of the fish transforming into a dragon, has become narrower and narrower.”

He stopped, turned around, and spoke frankly: “And it is even more serious in the countryside. Yun, you come from a poor background, your aptitude is not bad, and your comprehension is excellent. If you stay in the countryside, you will be buried. You must go to the city to study! But even if you go to the city to study, merely entering an official school, you will not be able to succeed. You also need to attend both official and private schools.”

“However, even if you learn the same things as the scholars, and your knowledge is the same, you may not necessarily be able to leap over the dragon gate. Because aristocratic children also have prominent family backgrounds and extensive connections, and all of this will take you more than ten, or even several decades, to catch up to. Is this fair?”

“It’s not fair, but it’s just! Because this is the legacy left by their ancestors’ struggles, and it’s only right for them to inherit their ancestors’ legacy. A commoner scholar, without foundation, without family background, and without connections, if you want to succeed, then you only have one advantage that others do not possess.”

Qiu Shuijing patted his student’s shoulder and said earnestly, “That is wildness. The wildness of the countryside! The wildness that city scholars do not possess!”

He walked forward, his sleeves fluttering, and his voice drifted from afar: “The city is a great furnace of heaven and earth, full of struggles and opportunities. You can only preserve your wildness, use wildness as Yin and Yang, use struggle as charcoal, ignite the great furnace, and seize creation, in order to break out of solidified classes, transcend boundaries, and ascend!”

Zhai Zhu: The first phase of the “Abysswalker” chapter review event is about to begin. Please follow Qidian and the “Abysswalker” chapter reviews!