Chapter Three: The Art of Breathing and Energy Cultivation

The young man named Liu Xiaosheng sat with his eyes closed, teaching in person: breathe in, breathe out, adjust the breath, draw the vital energy of heaven and earth into the mouth and nose, guide it through the channels of the body, and gather it in the dantian, again and again, for thirty-six complete cycles.

Beside him, Liu An yawned, stretched lazily, and sat cross-legged on a large boulder. Then he cut in, “Master, I don’t feel a thing from your breathing method. And the so-called natural vital energy you keep talking about? I have no idea what that even is. All I get is a mouthful of cold air.”

“You ungrateful brat! I must have committed some sin to end up with someone like you, so contrary and rebellious. You never do a single proper thing in meditation or cultivation, but when it comes to stealing chickens and chasing rabbits, you’re a natural-born troublemaker without anyone teaching you a thing.”

Liu An only grinned sheepishly, unbothered, scratching his nose before thick-facedly asking his master what they were having for lunch.

“What a disaster. What a shame for the sect. Still no sense at all today—keep drinking the northwest wind if you like. I’m going to the tavern to bring back some wine.” With that, Liu Xiaosheng picked up the gourd at his side and was about to leave.

Then Liu An suddenly tossed out, “So you’re staying the night at that widow’s place again tonight?”

Liu Xiaosheng’s old face reddened. He looked back and glared at Liu An before snapping, “I’m going to spread a little warmth. What do you, a little thing with barely any hair on you, know about it?”

“Right, right, Master’s right. So when are you going to give me a sword-gourd too?”

“You think I’m going to give you one? There were only seven gourds on that supreme innate vine. My purple gourd was won by strength, by fighting my way through a million people. As for you, I think you can forget it.”

“Then Master, if you die one day, can you pass that gourd on to me?” Liu An asked with complete sincerity.

So filial. Truly filial. The old man nearly lost his temper and beat Liu An black and blue. Feeling much better after that, he headed downhill. Liu Xiaosheng used a movement art and stepped fifty paces in a single stride, vanishing at once, elegant and dashing. Liu An was struck with a pang of envy, as if suffering from a bad case of jealousy, and imagined that one day he too would roam the world as he pleased, his divine senses sweeping out so that wherever he thought, he would arrive.

What Liu An did not know was that Liu Xiaosheng, after using the shortening-the-earth technique for several steps, looked around with a puzzled frown and realized he had taken the wrong direction.

“You rebellious brat, all backbone and no obedience. One day you’ll anger me to death.”

“Achoo. It must be that old geezer missing me. Fine, today I’ll reluctantly catch a rabbit and a pheasant. No appetite at all really hurts my feelings.” With that, Liu An, finally free of his master’s supervision, hummed a little tune and swaggered into the mountain woods.

“Master goes out and never returns, leaving me alone in the mountains. There’s plenty of wild game here—one hand for a chicken, one hand for a rabbit, life as blissful as the immortals.”

Liu An was so intoxicated by the little song he had made up that he could not pull himself out of it.

A rustling sound from the grass immediately caught his attention. He stopped singing, crept quietly closer, and parted the grass to reveal a strange beast entirely white from head to toe.

Its face was like a horse’s, its horns like a deer’s, its hooves like a cow’s, and its tail like a donkey’s. Its forelegs were bent as it knelt to feed on some grass fruit.

Startled by Liu An’s disturbance, the strange beast seemed to sense danger. It sprang up and fled quickly through the brush, speaking human words as it ran: “Don’t chase me!”

The more panicked it became, the more it stumbled and spun in confusion. Liu An grew very excited, finding it immensely amusing, and forgot all about rabbits and chickens.

He rolled up his sleeves, set off at a run, and chased after the beast, shouting as he went.

The beast was nearly driven to tears. “Stop chasing me, stop chasing me. I can’t run anymore.”

“Haha, wonderful! Aside from my master, you’re the only living being I’ve been able to talk to this whole year.” Liu An finally stopped as well, dropping onto the ground to gulp for breath. The beast lay with its forelegs folded, tongue hanging out.

Just as Liu An reached out to stroke the beast’s back, he suddenly felt a flash of profound insight. Ignoring everything else, he sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes halfway, and began to regulate his breathing.

A cool current of plant vitality entered his body through his mouth and nose, coursed through every limb and bone, and finally gathered long and lingering in his dantian.

As Liu An sank into the awakened state brought on by his breathing practice, he remained utterly unaware that the vegetation around him was withering at astonishing speed, turning to dust and vanishing into the heavens and earth.

The beast stared wide-eyed at the bare earth beneath its hooves and could not help letting out a few mournful cries, tears spilling down its face. Then something wondrous happened: as those tears sank into the ground, the land that had been turning barren actually stirred back to life, and vegetation sprouted anew.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Liu An emerged from his meditative insight and slowly opened his eyes. The beast looked at him with deep resentment and said, “You are a wicked one. Just now, all the plants around you withered in an instant and lost all life.”

“What nonsense are you spouting? I’m not blind. Isn’t this fresh grass?” Liu An retorted, plucking up a handful and hurling it at the beast.

The beast, in a childish voice, argued, “I was the one who restored the land to life. You should thank me.”

Liu An no longer bothered to argue. He studied the beast from head to toe and blurted out, “Since you’ve brought me good fortune, and since you look rather unusual, I’ll take you for an auspicious beast and name you Four-Like-Nothing.”

As soon as he spoke, a blessing cloud descended above the beast, though neither human nor creature knew it at the time.

Four-Like-Nothing immediately felt its senses sharpen even further. It let out a delighted cry, hopped about a few times, and knelt with its forelegs to express thanks for Liu An’s gift. Of course, the person in question remained completely unaware.

Far away, thousands of miles from there, Liu Xiaosheng was helping a young unmarried lady calculate her marriage fortune. His hand was already behaving rather shamelessly, stroking her palm.

“So smooth. So soft.”

But before Liu Xiaosheng could continue indulging himself, his hand suddenly stiffened. His face darkened with anger, yet in the next instant he recovered and resumed his fortune-telling with a smile.

“That little thing really is lucky. It has actually gained a sliver of fortune. Still, as long as it isn’t bad, that counts for something. At last, that rebellious brat has taken his first step.” So thought Liu Xiaosheng to himself.

“Old sir, don’t just keep touching. Can you actually see anything?” the young woman across from him asked, her face red with embarrassment.

Liu Xiaosheng felt awkward, coughed twice, and said with feigned surprise, “Ah, marvelous, marvelous! Miss, you will soon meet a fine match in these next few days. From then on, you’ll live a life of wealth and ease, dressed in fine silks and never lacking for food or clothes. Congratulations, miss, congratulations.”

The young lady frowned when she heard this, tossed two copper coins at Liu Xiaosheng, and left in anger, muttering as she went, “Another swindler, always flattering people with nothing but pleasant lies.”

Liu Xiaosheng wanted to call her back as she swept away.

“Miss, this fee is nowhere near enough to offset the price of revealing heaven’s secrets. You would need a single ingot of gold to leave.”

“Good and ill are ever intertwined. To learn in advance the fate that was meant to unfold naturally—what a pity. Karma is not so easily erased, and in the end it becomes nothing more than empty joy. A pity indeed.” Liu Xiaosheng sighed to himself.

Before he could go on lamenting, a burly man, foolish-looking and broad as a wall, sat down on the stool opposite him and grinned happily.

Liu Xiaosheng looked at the burly man. The burly man looked at Liu Xiaosheng. The two simply stared at one another, and neither of them spoke first.