Maid Lotus came back with Sumeru Mustard Mantra. Though there were explanations beside it, they still found the mantra difficult to practice.
An enormous Sumeru Mountain could be wrapped up into a small mustard seed. The words from the scripture contained Buddhist doctrines and they were obscure. This sentence was the instruction of Internal Strength. It was the first trial of belief. Anyone who tried to practice this mantra needed to pass it first.
To pass the trial, the participant first needed to have faith in Buddhist doctrines. Then, he needed to believe that it contained all the Internal Strength in the world; once the participant mastered it, he would be invincible.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus couldn’t even pass the first trial. They only had the most superficial knowledge of Buddhist doctrines. And their principles went against Buddhist doctrines.
Maid Lotus brought several scriptures, including Diamond Sutra, Lotus Sutra and Hridaya Sutra. After going through several pages, Gu Shenwei felt a headache coming on. Besides, he thought that Buddha exaggerating, forcing the crowd to believe his words. Besides, he doubted the strength of his will.
“It’s impossible that a manual contains all the Internal Strength techniques in the world. Given that, Budda is bragging.
But I can’t deny that the power of the kung fu skills in this scripture. Both I and Maid Lotus witnessed amazing divine kung fu that Fayan used. Maid Lotus heard that Sumeru Mustard Mantra is one of the treasures of Four Truths Temple.
In addition, Death Scripture that we trust most has a similar demand on the belief. Most of the content in Sumeru Mustard Mantra doesn’t make sense. This book seems to be from an ignorant person who talked nonsense. But as long as one has faith, he or she can practice it more easily; meanwhile, power will increase as well. In this way, many difficulties will disappear.” Gu Shenwei mused.
They hadn’t made up their mind. But they knew that this manual wouldn’t bring any side effects. Fayan hadn’t hidden Breaking Obsession in it, aiming to expose Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus to Buddhist doctrines through the practice.
“This monk, who has great faith in Buddhist doctrines, thinks that he can turn killers into good people with several scriptures. It’s ridiculous.
Sumeru Mustard Mantra is written for people like me.” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
The two of them tried practicing the basics. After three days, they had to stop due to an insurmountable problem.
Whenever they had practiced divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard, Internal Breath would generate in their body. This Internal Breath was against Wayless Qigong.
The divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard owned yang property, but Wayless Qigong had yin property. When two manuals of different properties met, they fought against each other.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus knew that the power of this manual would be weakened and the speed of practice would be prolonged without firm belief. But they resolved to practice first. When a bit of Qi gathered in their body, their initial Internal Breath fought against with it fiercely. As a result, the divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard triggered their Frosty Qi, instead of curing their Qigong Deviation.
Gu Shenwei was attacked by Qigong Deviation first, and Maid Lotus second. Their conditions were not serious, so they recovered after a night. Considering the result of their practice, they feared to practice again.
Since then, their belief towards this manual weakened. Sumeru Mustard Mantra claimed to take in all the Internal Strength in the world. After this experience, they knew Wayless Qigong was an exception.
Just as they were about to give up it, something happened that changed their thoughts.
One day, an eminent monk gave a lecture on Buddhist doctrines. Hearing this, Chu Nanping and Maid Lotus entered the city to attend the lecture. They saw divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard. The eminent monk thought highly of Chu Nanping. He also said that he had the root of wisdom.
Chu Nanping wasn’t interested in the monk’s words. All he wanted was to continue the practice of Emotionless Swordsmanship. He had come to attend the monk’s lecture under Dragon King’s order.
The youth had no faith in Buddhist doctrines. He also took no interest in divine kung fu. To their surprise, he could practice divine kung fu successfully without any side effects.
As Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were afraid to practice it, they decided to try it on someone else. Gu Shenwei had chosen to teach Chu Nanping part of Wayless Qigong. The Internal Strength Chu Nanping had was similar to Gu Shenwei’s. Both of their Internal Strength belonged to yin property. To their surprise, the youth’s initial Internal Strength did not conflict Qi caused by divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard. Instead, two strengths helped each other. As a result, the youth learned divine kung fu at a fast speed.
After they left Joy Pavilion, Dragon King became Chu Nanping’s master and friend. It was the first time that he had asked the youth for help in kung fu skills.
Facing his question, Chu Nanping simply replied, “When you practice it, stop thinking. Just follow the instruction in the scripture. Like Secrets of Love, you can easily master it.”
It was challenging for them to stop thinking. Dragon King and Maid Lotus were similar in that way. Composed and unreflective as they looked, they never stopped thinking. Even in their sleep, they still kept half wake to meditate. Traps and schemes were always brewing in their mind all the time. For them, putting these thoughts aside meant abandoning the sabers and swords they carried.
“I expected divine kung fu of Sumeru Mustard to improve my Internal Strength. As far as it is concerned, I will meet countless difficulties during the process. Even if I could master it, I have to make great efforts. Besides, it also requires lots of time.” Gu Shenwei pondered.
“Spring is on its way, the army of Golden Roc Fort will come soon. Given that, I should set aside the practice on divine kung fu. At this critical moment, I can’t afford to take any risks. Besides, I have gotten accustomed to the pain that Frosty Qi brings every two or three months. Under Maid Lotus’ protection, I don’t need to worry about the enemy’s raid. The pain of Frosty Qi doesn’t matter.” Gu Shenwei pondered.
As for Zhong Heng’s recruitment, things went well as expected. Hitherto, he had enrolled over 10,000 new recruits. Dugu Xian trained soldiers at different stages day and night. For swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, he required them to control their impulse and slow down when attacking the enemy; as for those soldiers from five kingdoms, he commanded them to strictly follow orders and told them that deserters would be beheaded without exception.
After months of training, Dugu Xian gave many compliments to slave soldiers from the Land of Fragrance in front of Dragon King. In his eyes, they followed orders and behaved properly. So he believed that they could become the real combat power.
Hearing his excessive compliments slave soldiers, Gu Shenwei disagreed with what Left General had said. Gu Shenwei told him that these 6,000 to 7,000 slave soldier were used to obeying orders and their performance in the battlefield would prove themselves.
Zhong Heng was in charge of recruitment and supply of army provisions. During the process, he had met many people across the Xiaoyao Lake and collected much information. He sent Dragon King a warning: As they could get land in the Land of Fragrance, soldiers began to accept the upcoming war and get ready for it; but common people still thought that the war had nothing to do with them but was caused by Dragon King.
Except for running the business for Dragon King, Xu Xiaoyi had also been collecting information. He came to the same conclusion as Prime Minister.
The tension of the war permeated the whole Xiaoyao Lake. People living in the city escaped to the countryside, while peasants came to the city to seek shelter. Every family had dug a tunnel in their courtyard and room and they hid food in it. In this way, they could hide in the tunnel to escape soldiers when the war began.
The public outcry did not pose a threat to Dragon King yet. Common people were afraid of Dragon King, his army in particular. They were willing to trade with Dragon army as long as they received reasonable offers at the scene.
Dragon Army’s supplies were provided by the Land of Fragrance and Xiaoyao Lake. Once Dragon army got into an unfavorable situation or impasse, they would completely lose support from Xiaoyao Lake. In this way, they could only rely on scanty supplies from the Land of Fragrance, which could barely support 30,000 troops and a large-scale battle. That was Zhong Heng’s concern.
“Getting ready for the war goes against winning support from common people, just like Sumeru Mustard Mantra and Wayless Book. I have to choose one.
But as long as I win the war, all the difficulties will get settled.” Gu Shenwei pondered.
The soldiers and people from Xiaoyao Lake, even the whole Western Region thought Dragon King would lose the war.
Zhong Heng had spent half a month for recruitment but only got a little over 10,000 soldiers. And most of them never held a sharp weapon. Golden Roc Army across the desert gained 30,000 new recruits. These people were veterans, machetemen and bandits who had experience in fighting. They could join the war with some training.
Now, Golden Roc Fort’ troops outnumbered Dragon Army. It had 80,000 troops, while Dragon King only had 30,000.
Dugu Xian complained to Dragon King nearly every day: recruits was progressing slowly, soldiers were in low spirits, they desperately lacked men. Dugu Xian was a down-to-earth general, and he never believed that miracles would work on the battlefield. Though he had read many cases of the smaller and weaker army defeating the larger and stronger army, he either doubted its truth or thought it was the coincidence.
“That’s not true. The party with more troops who lost their war usually didn’t follow the military rules. As a result, they made fatal mistakes. Their failure was caused by themselves,” Dugu Xian insisted.
“The party with fewer troops can work out some plans to lead them to make mistakes,” the Dragon King contradicted.
“Haha, Dragon King read too many stories. The schemes mentioned in the book are made up. If I had an elite troop, I would do nothing but move forward according to my plan. What’s the point of thinking too much as victory is mine? I know Shangguan Jianyi and he won’t be fooled,” Dugu Xian said confidently.
Though Gu Shenwei hadn’t met that Shangguan Jainyi, he thought that he knew that commander better than Dugu Xian. “Shangguan Jianyi loves taking risks. He wants a full victory. For it, he would be at all costs, even sacrifice many soldiers.” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
Gu Shenwei hadn’t figured out a feasible plan yet.
Dugu Xian was a qualified general. “It’s my duty to tell Dragon King of the weakness and holes in our plan.” Dugu Xian thought. After he walked out of the tent, he became confident instantly. He resolved to enhance morale by all means.
With the war approaching, spies brought lots of intelligence every day. The intelligence suggested that Golden Roc Army in Shuangquan Village would attack in the spring.
Occupied with business, Gu Shenwei set aside divine kung fu that monk left. Now, a message came from the royal palace: Queen had finished chapter 8 in the Wayless Book.
Princess had just finished half of the chapter a couple of days ago. Hearing the news, Gu Shenwei was taken by surprise. “The scripture is difficult to manage because hundreds of books are out of order. Once they’re rearranged according to the sequence, it will be easy to sort out the text.” Gu Shenwei mused.
Upon hearing the news, Gu Shenwei rode to the city instantly. The last time he had seen the Queen was a month ago.
Princess dressed up to greet Dragon King. Meanwhile, she prepared a good feast for him.
Gu Shenwei had no time to appreciate the Princess’ efforts for him. After exchanging small talks with the Princess, Gu Shenwei asked her to show him chapter 8.
Princess was not disappointed for she knew Dragon King was such a person. She slowly took out a pile of papers, scribbled full of words.
Gu Shenwei went through all the papers. “It’s chapter 8. There is no mistake.
But the content is incomplete. There is an important part missing.” Gu Shenwei thought.
“Is this all?” Gu Shenwei asked with disappointment. “I can practice Wayless Qigong bit by bit based on different chapter. But once a part is missing in one chapter, it’s impossible to master it.” Gu Shenwei mused.
“No, I still have some,” the Princess replied gently with a smile on her face. Now, she resembled a qualified wife. She continued, “I’m ignorant of these scriptures. But I think chapter 9 is also hidden in these books.”
“Give it to me now,” Gu Shenwei urged in slight excitement.
“Only if you agree to my condition first,” the Princess said.
All of a sudden, that shy Princess changed.