The Commoner's Path to the Dao

Ajiu, a young apprentice in Chang'an, is a stubborn fool in the eyes of the neighbors. He copies books late into the night every day, yet cannot master even the most basic method for drawing in qi. The master at the temple dismisses him as a block of wood. No one knows that the worn copy of The Analects tucked against his chest conceals half of a tortoise shell etched with Daoist patterns. Nor do they know that the remnant soul of an ancient Sage of Letters sleeps within his frail body.

While delivering books for his master one day, Ajiu is gravely wounded by bandits as he tries to protect the ancient texts. At death's door, blood spills onto the tortoise shell, awakening the Sage of Letters' remnant soul. The profound teachings of the Thousand-Character Scripture of the Dao flood into his mind. From then on, Ajiu takes brush and ink as his weapons and scripture as his incantations, cultivating the path of the sages in the body of a commoner.

The disciples of the immortal sects laugh at his absurd attempt to seek the Dao through literature? He writes the word "Thunder" in a flourish, and the ink strokes become a bolt of lightning that shatters a magic artifact. The demonic cultivators covet the tortoise shell and ambush him? He recites scripture, and righteous energy gathers into a barrier that tears through the demonic mist. When the tortoise shell reveals the words "Reincarnation of the Sage of Letters," Ajiu finally understands: this journey to immortality is a commoner's rise to greatness, and the return of a sage's soul. Watch as a young apprentice wields his brush, shatters the boundary between mortals and immortals, and seeks the Dao through literature to prove his way to eternal life!