novelhk Chapter 1 The Most Valuable Treasure
Chapter 1 The Most Valuable Treasure
Early summer of 1919.
In the afternoon, the sun was blazing.
The martial arts arena on the back mountain of the Wuhou Sect is carved with a huge Bagua pattern on the ground, and eight stone pillars stand around it, corresponding to the eight gates of Rest, Life, Injury, Block, View, Death, Shock, and Open.
This is where the disciples of the Wuhou School practice their layout techniques daily.
Layout, the simplest introductory lesson.
Zhuge Yan stood in the center of the training ground, his back soaked with sweat.
In June, the sun in Sichuan is like a furnace overhead, and the bluestone slabs are so hot they burn your feet.
But he couldn't feel the heat, because what bothered him more than the sun was the gaze of the two elders behind him.
"Again."
Zhuge Zhong's voice was emotionless, as rough as a whetstone.
Zhuge Yan gritted his teeth and closed his eyes again.
The first step in setting up a Qimen Dunjia divination chart is to determine the central palace.
Using one's own place of residence as a base, one divides the space within a radius of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) into eight equal parts in one's mind.
Each set corresponds to a gate, and the location, five elements, and generating and restraining relationships of each gate must appear simultaneously at the moment the divination is set up.
It doesn't sound difficult.
But for Zhuge Yan, this was like asking someone who couldn't read music to conduct an orchestra.
He tried to use his mind to outline that invisible boundary: the Rest Gate is in the north, belongs to water, and is black in color... the Life Gate is in the northeast, belongs to earth, and is yellow in color...
Orientation was fighting in his mind.
Water and soil are mixed together.
The black and yellow colors were blurred together.
"rise!"
Zhuge Yan suddenly opened his eyes and slammed his palm onto the Bagua diagram on the ground.
Nothing happened.
There is no resonance of Qi, and no activation of the Qimen Dunjia formation.
The Qi he released was like water splashed on sand, instantly disappearing without a trace.
The training ground fell silent for a few breaths, and then Zhuge Zhong sighed softly.
But to Zhuge Yan, that sigh was heavier than any rebuke.
"It's been two years."
The two elders stood with their hands behind their backs, their gazes passing over Zhuge Yan and looking towards the clouds in the distant mountains.
"When your father handed you over to me, he said that although you were born with extraordinary talent, you had a strong will and would surely achieve great things in time."
He paused.
"Two years, the basic setup, the most fundamental starting point. Among the disciples of the clan, those with above-average talent can master it in three months, while even the dull-witted can enter the field in half a year."
Zhuge Zhong finally turned his gaze back to Zhuge Yan.
"You've spent two years and you still can't even do the most basic 'centering the palace' (定中宫)."
Zhuge Yan lowered his head and remained silent.
"There's nothing wrong with your Qi. You're a naturally gifted person, with an innate Qi sensitivity that's much more vibrant than those of us who cultivate it later in life."
Zhuge Zhong shook his head.
"But the art of divination is not just about having a good sense of Qi; it requires the mind."
He didn't finish speaking.
But Zhuge Yan understood the unfinished sentence—"You're not smart enough."
"Uncle Zhong, let it go."
It was Zhuge Zhao who spoke.
He is one year older than Zhuge Yan. Last year, he had already mastered the Eight Gates Deduction and is now beginning to learn the basics of the Four Plates Magic.
"Yan Ge'er's innate ability has nothing to do with numerology."
Zhuge Zhao’s tone carried a kind of sharp sarcasm unique to young people.
"Controlling heart rate and regulating body temperature—if you were to perform under a bridge, you might earn a few copper coins. But in our Wuhou Sect…"
He smiled but didn't continue.
But several of the side disciples nearby laughed along with them.
Zhuge Yunhui frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just turned his face away.
Seeing this, Zhuge Ming quickly smoothed things over, saying, "Alright, alright, we're all brothers of the same clan."
"It's precisely because we're from the same clan that I'm so worried about him."
Zhuge Zhao shrugged.
"The Wuhou School is based on divination and numerology. If we can't even get into the gate, what will we do in the future? We can't really rely on controlling our heartbeats to fight against the sorcerers of the Quanxing Sect, can we?"
If someone comes at you with a palm strike, are you going to tell them, "Wait, let me calm my heartbeat?"
"Hahaha……"
The laughter grew even louder.
Zhuge Yan stood there, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes.
A bunch of little kids, not very old, but they're surprisingly good at touching people's hearts...
That's enough.
Zhuge Zhong waved his hand, stopping the farce.
He glanced at Zhuge Yan, his eyes filled with a complex emotion.
It's not disgust, it's more like... giving up.
"That's all for today, Zhao'er. You stay here, and I'll teach you the next step in the deduction. Yan'er..."
He paused for a moment, as if considering his words.
"Go back and read the Book of Changes again. Read it from the beginning, don't think about Qimen Dunjia or formations, just read the original text. Perhaps... you can find something different."
Zhuge Yan bowed and turned to leave.
As he walked out of the training ground, he heard Zhuge Zhao's hushed voice behind him: "Zhongshu still made him study the Book of Changes? He's been studying it for two years and hasn't even made a name for himself..."
He didn't turn around.
Zhuge Yan's room was in the west wing of the Wuhou School's ancestral home. It wasn't large, but it had a south-facing window that offered a view of the bamboo forest behind the mountain.
He closed the door and sat down by the window.
Without any lights on, sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a long shadow over him.
He had a secret he had never told anyone, not even his parents.
He is a time traveler.
My past life is a blur. I only remember that I was an ordinary modern person who went to university, had a mediocre job, and then came into this world on some day I can't remember.
Born into the Wuhou Sect, with his father as the clan leader, he was born with the ability to sense Qi and awakened innate supernatural abilities.
This opening, if placed in the novels I read in my previous life, would be considered a protagonist template, right?
The results of it?
After two years, he still couldn't learn the most basic layout, let alone the four-plate magic of Heaven, Earth, Man, and God.
It should be noted that in the original story, Zhuge Qing mastered all the spells of the four plates in just seven years.
Compared to this person, my talent is indeed quite terrible...
"main character?"
Zhuge Yan looked at the bamboo forest outside the window and gave a bitter smile.
"More like trash."
He rubbed his face and picked up the well-worn copy of the I Ching from the table.
This was given to him by the second clan elder two years ago.
The pages were curled at the edges and covered with his annotations.
He had read each of the following texts countless times: Appended Remarks, Explanation of the Trigrams, Sequence of the Trigrams, Miscellaneous Trigrams, etc.
But he understood less than one tenth of it.
"Uncle Zhong told me to only read the original text."
Zhuge Yan turned the pages of the book, forcing himself not to look at the annotations.
Qian (乾): Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen (元亨利贞).
Kun, Yuan Heng, Li Pin Ma Zhi Zhen.
Tun, Yuan Heng Li Zhen, Wu Yong You Wang...
He recognizes every single word.
But when those words are put together, they form a wall.
He flipped to the appendix and uploaded it.
He had read this passage many times.
"The Book of Changes is in accordance with the principles of Heaven and Earth, therefore it can encompass the Way of Heaven and Earth."
He had consulted countless annotations to understand the meaning of this sentence. It roughly means that the principles of the I Ching are consistent with those of Heaven and Earth, and therefore can encompass all the laws of the universe.
But what's the use of knowing the meaning?
He still couldn't set up a Qimen Dunjia divination.
Zhuge Yan turned to the next page in frustration.
Then, his fingers stopped.
Chapter Four of the Appended Remarks.
He had previously written a note in the footer of this page, his handwriting messy, which he had jotted down casually when he read this page once:
"The Book of Changes is without thought, without action, still and unmoved, yet it responds to all things and understands the ways of the world."
This is the original sentence from the "Appended Remarks".
Beside it was his annotation at the time: "Unintentionality leads to understanding, while intentionality creates obstacles. Is the same true of the principles of numerology?"
This was something he wrote during countless moments of self-doubt over the past two years, and it contained nothing new.
But at that moment, the setting sun shone precisely on this line of text.
Zhuge Yan's gaze fell on the two words "no thought".
No thoughts.
Without thinking.
No, it's not that I didn't think. Rather—I transcended thinking!
He suddenly remembered what the second elder had said earlier that day: "The way of numerology is not just about having a good sense of Qi; it requires a brain."
Do I need a brain?
The reason why Qimen Dunjia divination is difficult is because the human brain has limited computing power.
When information such as the eight directions, the five elements' mutual generation and restraint, and the changes in the four compasses floods into consciousness at the same time, the average person's brain simply cannot process it all.
Therefore, it requires years of practice to turn these calculations into "muscle memory," into an instinct that requires no thought.
But he couldn't do it.
He tried for two years, but those directions and attributes just wouldn't work automatically in his mind.
Why?
Because he has always been thinking in a "normal" way.
What if he doesn't use the "normal" method?
Zhuge Yan's fingers began to tremble slightly.
A thought surfaced from the depths of my consciousness, like a lamp suddenly lit up beneath the dark surface of water.
He is a naturally gifted individual.
His ability is to control his body.
The brain is also part of the body!
In this era, the medical system was still in its infancy, but Zhuge Yan was different. He was a time traveler, and the various discoveries that challenged the understanding of this era were nothing more than common sense to him!
This is his most valuable asset as a time traveler!
Since one's innate ability is related to body control, then theoretically the brain is also part of the body and can also be controlled.
The human brain contains tens of billions of neurons, making it far more complex than any computer.
However, due to physiological limitations, the brain has limited functions such as energy supply, heat dissipation, and signal transmission efficiency, and the average person's brain can only utilize a very small part of these functions.
What would happen if we replaced the body's biological energy supply mechanism with true qi to provide energy support for the brain's overloaded operation for a short period of time?
Zhuge Yan closed the book.
His hands were still shaking, but not from nervousness.
It's because of something indescribable—like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down, feeling both fear and excitement.
He put the well-worn copy of the I Ching back on the table and sat cross-legged on the bed.
The sun had already sunk behind the bamboo grove, and the room grew dark.
Zhuge Yan closed his eyes.
He could feel the Qi within his body.
The warm current of energy originated from the dantian and flowed slowly along the meridians, like a tireless river.
This is his innate ability, and the only thing that makes him stronger than his clansmen—his perception of Qi is so precise that it extends to every single strand!
In his usual practice, he would let his Qi circulate along a fixed route.
But this time, he's going to change its course.
Zhuge Yan held his breath and used his mind to separate a strand from that gentle stream of air, a strand thinner than a hair.
He dared not give too much—the brain is the most vulnerable organ in the human body, and the consequences of the slightest mistake would be unimaginable.
The wisp of Qi slowly ascended along the spine.
Cervical spine, brainstem, and then cerebellum.
Up to this point, everything is normal.
He even felt an unprecedented clarity, like a cool breeze suddenly blowing in on a sweltering summer night.
Then, he let the wisp of Qi continue forward until it entered the cerebral cortex.
In that instant, Zhuge Yan heard his own heartbeat.
It wasn't heard with the ears, but rather came from inside the skull, like someone was beating a huge drum.
No, it's not just the heartbeat.
He could hear the sound of each bamboo leaf rubbing against each other in the bamboo forest outside the window.
He could smell the herbs being decocted in the neighboring yard—angelica, chuanxiong, astragalus… each ingredient was so clear it was as if it were written on paper.
He felt the opening and closing of all 365 acupoints on his body, like 365 eyes opening at the same time.
But these are just the prelude.
The real shock came from his way of thinking.
The question he had been pondering—the Rest Gate in the north, associated with water and the color black, and the Life Gate in the northeast, associated with earth and the color yellow—suddenly became incredibly simple at that moment.
It wasn't because he suddenly understood, but because his thinking speed was fast enough to process all this information at once.
The eight directions, the five elements, the four symbols...
The elements that had once been battling in his mind were now arranged clearly in his consciousness, like chess pieces on a chessboard.
He could even see the relationships of mutual generation and restraint between them—
The Rest Gate overcomes the Life Gate? No, Earth overcomes Water!
The Gate of Life overcomes the Gate of Blockage? No, it's Wood overcoming Earth!
These relationships, which he once had to stop and ponder repeatedly, are now automatically linked together in his consciousness.
A complete Qimen Dunjia chart.
The eight directions are clearly engraved! The interactions of the four plates are readily apparent!
Zhuge Yan suddenly opened his eyes.
In his mind, he had already completed the initial setup.
But what he didn't know was that, in reality, his body was breaking down...
blood.
It flowed from his nose, trickled down his lips to his chin, and dripped onto his pale white lapel.
Then there are the ears.
Warm liquid seeped from the ear canal, accompanied by a low hum.
Zhuge Yan tried to raise his hand to wipe it, but found that his arm was completely unresponsive.
His body felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he couldn't even lift a finger.
The wisp of Qi that entered the brain was completely out of control.
It was like a wild horse, rampaging through my brain.
Zhuge Yan could feel his consciousness being torn apart—countless images and sounds flooded in at the same time, past memories, present perceptions, and the Qimen formation he had just deduced were all mixed together.
He saw his grandfather's face.
He heard Zhuge Zhao laughing.
He calculated the total number of bamboo leaves outside the window—23,741.
This information was meaningless, but his brain was processing it frantically, like a machine that couldn't stop.
stop.
He tried to retract that wisp of Qi with his mind.
But that wisp of true qi no longer obeyed him.
stop!
The field of vision began to darken.
The edges blurred first, then darkness surged in from all sides like a tide, engulfing everything.
The last thing he saw was the open book of the I Ching on the table.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone on that line of words—
"The Book of Changes is without thought, without action, still and unmoved, yet it responds to all things and understands the ways of the world."
Then, everything went dark.