Food System in Cultivation World-Chapter 509 - 463: The Blade-Pen That Split the Sky
The one at Xie Mingyi’s side was, in truth, none other than Chen Xu!
Yet though Chen Xu’s reputation was vast, his rise to fame was but recent, and he seldom appeared before the masses.
Thus, while the whole world knew the name of Chen Xu, those who had truly seen his countenance were but few.
Xie Mingyi, however, had once seen a portrait of Chen Xu sent from Yunjiang Prefecture.
But alas, the painter’s rendering was more impressionistic than lifelike. Though Xie Mingyi had looked upon it, he could not match the figure in the painting to the youth before his eyes.
Or perhaps, Xie Mingyi could hardly have imagined that Chen Xu, searched for desperately by so many not long ago, now stood quietly by his side.
Indeed, Xie Mingyi was the last disciple of the Great Scholar Li Yanqing.
In fact, Li Yanqing’s whole school was seeking Chen Xu.
Feng Yuanbai had learned of the upheaval in the Jade Capital only upon receiving a transmission from a disciple of Li Yanqing’s lineage.
That same person had also entrusted Feng Yuanbai with the search for Chen Xu.
After obtaining Chen Xu’s consent, Feng Yuanbai had actually sent word to the Jade Capital, notifying old friends and others of Chen Xu’s movements.
Yet Chen Xu moved far too swiftly.
Across ten thousand leagues, before the message even arrived, Chen Xu himself had already come to the Jade Capital.
Upon his arrival, he did not immediately take the token to meet Li Yanqing, but came first to this Twelve-Layered Tower.
This famed immortal edifice, renowned throughout the realm, truly lived up to its name.
The moment Chen Xu entered, what greeted him was not the bustling splendor of the Mortal World, but a most peculiar sound of wind that could not be described in words.
It seemed not a wind of the present age, but one from countless ages past, as though an eternal gale from time immemorial.
Within that wind, it was as though murmurs and whispers were hidden in every breath.
Though the meaning was vague, and the tones fell strangely on the ear.
Chen Xu listened with utmost care, yet heard only a chorus of chaotic and inscrutable syllables.
He echoed these sounds within his mind: "A-mu-xi-ge-gu-yi-da..."
For reasons unknown, he found these intonations closely resembled the "strange wind words" he had heard once before.
Listening to these indistinct voices, Chen Xu found the bottleneck at his eighth level of the Golden Core beginning to loosen further.
Deep within his Golden Core, a mysterious and marvelous Dharma Image seed grew ever more defined; faintly, it seemed a tiny likeness of Chen Xu himself.
And yet, it was not merely Chen Xu.
For the misty figure within that Golden Core bore three heads and six arms.
On two arms were even faint forms of Magical Treasures.
Focusing intently, Chen Xu discovered that what had been forever hidden before now could be glimpsed, albeit dimly.
He saw: one was a brush-knife, the other a scroll.
From both emanated mysterious and profound auras.
Most wondrous of all, this brush-knife and scroll were not only connected to Chen Xu’s own Golden Core, but seemed to draw forth the vast Literary Qi from his Sea of Literature.
Merely by stepping into the first floor of the Twelve-Layered Tower and hearing a few murmured voices within the wind, his Dharma Image thus advanced by such a margin.
Chen Xu could not help but wonder: if he could ascend to the twelfth floor, what wondrous boons might yet await him?
In that moment, Chen Xu realized deeply he had chosen aright in coming to the Twelve-Layered Tower of the Jade Capital.
He handed his name plaque to the palace attendant of the Imperial Bureau posted before the Tower.
At this grand gathering, Master Lan Yue had extended an open invitation to scholars of renown from across the land.
The means of invitation were twofold.
First, those with written invitations could enter directly by presenting them.
For instance, the recently "restored to youth" Elder Xiao Zhengde had entered in this manner.
The second did not require an invitation, so long as one’s name was widely known.
This so-called "renown" was truly broad in definition.
Xie Mingyi belonged to the most well-known group; his fame was such that though he bore an invitation, upon entering the banquet hall, there was no need to present it.
He need only stand at the threshold—his face itself was the very emblem of his reputation.
The palace attendant at the door hurriedly bade him enter, asking neither for invitation nor name plaque.
The other form of "renown" required only that one bear a name plaque clearly inscribed with origins and name, and if one possessed enough courage to enter calmly, the gatekeeper would not hinder passage.
Ultimately, this banquet was designed to be open.
Should any among the crowds in the square format a proper name plaque, even they could enter the Twelve-Layered Tower with it.
Yet many lacked such nerve, or the means to compose a fitting "name plaque".
And so, they could only gather in the square before the Twelve-Layered Tower, gazing through the doors at all the excitement within.
Restless, itching with longing, yet loath to leave.
But as the saying goes, "it takes a crowd to carry the bridal sedan"; the myriad legends of the Twelve-Layered Tower could never spread so widely without such onlookers to circulate and extol them.
Before stepping within, Chen Xu had in truth already filled his ears with such tales.
With these legends in mind, Chen Xu submitted his name plaque and entered the first banquet hall.
This time, his purpose was to lure the hidden snake from its lair.
Thus, upon handing over his name plaque, he had no intention at all to conceal his identity.
Yet as chance would have it, perhaps the palace attendant at the door had seen too many name plaques that day and was weary from the endless tedium.
When Chen Xu presented his plaque, the attendant gave it only a cursory glance and, finding it more or less in order, set it casually to the side.
He could not even be bothered to read the name or origin of the one submitting the plaque—he merely waved Chen Xu inside.
And behind him, others too handed in their name plaques in turn.
By this point, the first-floor banquet hall was already host to more than four or five thousand souls.
Truly, with one glance, nothing but a sea of faces in every direction.
And even with such crowds, still the great hall seemed wide and uncramped.
The reason for this lay in the marvelous space contained within the Twelve-Layered Tower.
This grand immortal tower, majestic without as within, secreted layer upon layer of heavenly space much like the legendary Kṣitigarbha realms.
Rumor had it, the space within could expand or shrink at will.
With hundreds inside, there was no emptiness; with thousands, no crowding; even tens of thousands... all could be accommodated!
Many thus frequented the Tower merely to marvel at this otherworldly domain.
At this moment, atop the circular dais at the hall’s center, Du Nianshuang was brandishing his brush with sweeping strokes.
He was painting the Long Scroll of the Jade Ferry River, seeking thereby to arouse the Tower’s sympathies and open the passage to the second floor.
At the same time, others were composing verses before all, chanting lines of exquisite poetry.
Still others played at chess, their board semi-translucent, six feet across, suspended mid-air, immense in its dimensions.
Black and white stones interspersed in fierce contention, attack and riposte unending.
The players, all gravely intent, must direct the pieces with their own vital qi for the game to proceed. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
It was thus that the path between first and second floors might be opened through many means.
There was no single set path—so long as one passed, the road was right.
Many came merely to witness spectacle, wandering as they pleased, dazzled by a thousand glorious sights, lamenting naught but a lack of extra eyes with which to see.
Xie Mingyi watched a while as Du Nianshuang painted, yet took little interest in the massive scroll; instead, his focus settled on the young man at his side.
He knew not the other’s identity, yet was unaccountably drawn to him.
This strange sense of resonance and attention was enough to set Xie Mingyi on guard.
