Two or Three Events in the Last Days 020
Chapter 20: Lesser Vast Heaven Heart Method
It was a quiet night.
The next day, Jing Lin got up early once again. He had already bought everything he could think of, and his shopping was temporarily finished. For the moment, it seemed there was nothing that particularly needed to be done today.
Despite finally having the chance to sleep in, Jing Lin could not fall back asleep. He took out the three worn books from the drawer beside his bed and flipped through them one by one. In the end, his attention settled on the Lesser Vast Heaven Heart Method.
“Vast” implied boundlessness and infinity. Judging from the title alone, it sounded like an extraordinary cultivation manual. The text was written in traditional Chinese characters, and there were some characters Jing Lin did not recognize. However, by relying on the context, he could generally infer their meanings, so it did not hinder his reading or understanding.
The opening section introduced the book itself. It explained that the manual had been copied and preserved through countless generations, and its original source was no longer known. The cultivation method was divided into three stages, each containing ten levels. The first stage was called Initial Movement, the second was Heaven and Earth, and the third was Returning to Oneness.
The Initial Movement stage formed the foundation and served as the entry point for cultivation. The Heaven and Earth stage represented a further leap in refinement. Cultivators who reached it would not only become immune to illness but could also live several times longer than ordinary people. Of course, anyone capable of reaching that stage would need exceptional aptitude. Without sufficient talent, one could never cross the threshold into the second stage and would remain an ordinary person.
The third stage, Returning to Oneness, began with a declaration that anyone capable of cultivating it possessed talent found only once in ten thousand. Such people could temper their bodies until they were as strong as iron, move with the lightness of a swallow, walk upon the wind itself, and further build upon the second stage by extending their lifespan by several additional centuries.
If he had read such things in the past, Jing Lin would have laughed and forgotten about them immediately. They would have sounded like nothing more than fantasy novel nonsense. Who would believe such claims?
But now, after understanding the text, even someone as calm as Jing Lin could not suppress his excitement.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Sitting cross-legged with his palms turned upward, he faced the rising sun and embarked on the path of cultivation.
Closing his eyes, Jing Lin repeatedly recited the incantation for the first level of Initial Movement. At first, his thoughts were somewhat scattered, but gradually they settled into calmness. Eventually, his mind became completely empty, and a profound silence enveloped his surroundings.
As the incantation continued to circulate through his thoughts, Jing Lin began to sense streams of qi flowing toward him. They slowly seeped through the space between his brows, traveled along his meridians through his internal organs, descended into his lower dantian, then returned along the same route before finally gathering once more between his brows.
The sensation was indescribably extraordinary.
It felt as though another eye had opened within his body, allowing him to see spiritual qi continuously washing through him. In his perception, the qi resembled white mist, within which drifted faint strands of purple.
After an unknown amount of time, Jing Lin emerged from his meditative state.
Recently, he had hardly rested at all. He slept poorly, woke early, and carried a constant sense of exhaustion. Yet now, the drowsiness clouding his mind had vanished. His body felt lighter than ever before, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Turning his head, he saw that Le Le was still asleep.
Meanwhile, the silly goose that Le Le had washed clean and placed inside a cardboard box on the bedside table the night before had somehow climbed onto the bed. It sat between the two of them with its eyes closed, seemingly dozing.
The moment it sensed Jing Lin move, its eyes snapped open. Its shiny black bean-like eyes stared at him intently as it eagerly let out two honks, sounding almost as if it were trying to curry favor.
Jing Lin raised an eyebrow slightly. He scooped Duckie up with one hand and set it on the floor. No matter how intelligent the goose might be, he still had no desire to share a bed with poultry.
Duckie seemed to realize it had been rejected. It let out two dejected cries before waddling away. A short while later, it came back in, tilted its head up to honk at Jing Lin, then turned around and walked away once more.
Jing Lin was already planning to get up. Seeing this, he followed after it.
He found Duckie standing beside the closed door leading to the backyard. It remained there patiently, as though waiting for him to open the door.
Very clever. It even knew how to ask someone to open a door for it.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin opened the door, and Duckie immediately rushed outside. Just like the day before, it plunged headfirst into the weeds and began stuffing itself.
Summer weather in July changed as quickly as a child’s mood. When Jing Lin had first gotten up, the day had looked destined to be another blazing, cloudless one. Yet while he was making breakfast, dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead and before long, thunder rumbled — a sign that heavy downpour was on the way.
Le Le had not stopped thinking about Duckie. Awakened by the thunder, he hurried out wearing his slippers on the wrong feet and rubbed his eyes while searching everywhere for Duckie.
Duckie did not come out but answered him with two cries.
Seeing that Duckie was still eating breakfast, Le Le visibly relaxed, letting out a relieved sigh like a little adult before obediently going to wash up under his uncle’s urging.
Before the rain arrived, Jing Lin dug out a hoe and cleared the weeds from the two vegetable plots in the front yard. After turning over the soil, he planned to sow some bok choy seeds.
Digging the earth was hard work, especially during the heat of summer. Before long, sweat poured down his body, and the friction from the hoe handle left his palms burning painfully.
He piled all the uprooted weeds together and tossed a few tender green shoots toward Duckie, who was sitting beneath the eaves playing with Le Le. However, Duckie barely spared them a glance, clearly turning up its nose at them.
Halfway through turning the soil, the rain finally came.
A torrential downpour crashed from the sky.
Jing Lin carried a small stool beneath the eaves where the rain could not reach. He sat there with Le Le in his lap while Le Le held Duckie.
Two people and one goose quietly watched the curtain of rain before them and listened to the steady drumming of water. For a rare moment, they simply enjoyed the peace.
After watching the rain for a while, Le Le climbed down from Jing Lin’s lap, took Duckie with him, and went to fetch a picture book, intending to tell Duckie a story.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin also stood up and retrieved the two books on talismans and formations, continuing his studies.
The books on talismans and formations were each divided into two major sections.
The first half of the talisman book explained how to use talisman paper as a medium for storing spiritual qi. The second half described using the cultivator’s own hand as the medium, gathering spiritual qi directly into a talisman.
According to Jing Lin’s understanding, the latter method was far more difficult, as it meant drawing talismans without paper or brush; tracing symbols directly in empty space and gathering spiritual qi into stable patterns that would not dissipate, effectively conjuring something out of nothing.
The formation manual complemented the talisman manual and was similarly divided into two sections. The first half explained formations that could be established using talisman papers, as well as the calculations and placement methods for formation nodes and formation cores; the second half described formations that could only be created through drawing talismans directly in the air.
The difference between the two methods was enormous.
If Jing Lin could truly draw talismans without relying on paper, brushes, or talisman sheets, he would never again need to worry about running out of supplies.
He had already memorized the very first talisman technique described in the second half.
Taking a deep breath and focusing his mind, he raised his right index finger and pointed into the empty air before him.
The sound of rain vanished. The curtain of rain before his eyes disappeared. Everything around him dissolved into nothingness. Within that endless void, a flash of silver light seemed to appear where his fingertip pointed. Jing Lin slowly moved his finger along the trajectory described by the talisman technique.
The moment he began moving, he felt as though he were facing a powerful enemy. The surrounding air pressed inward from every direction. His chest felt tightly gripped by an invisible hand. Breathing became increasingly difficult. An unknown force obstructed his finger, making even the slightest movement feel nearly impossible.
When he tried to push forward again, the pressure intensified. His breathing grew even more labored.
Jing Lin no longer dared to move. After a brief standoff against this oppressive force, he ultimately yielded and snapped back to reality from the void.
Only then did he realize how weak he felt. All the strength seemed to have been drained from his body. His limbs felt limp and powerless, while cold sweat soaked both his forehead and his back.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Two of two for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
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