The Right Way to Consume Scriptures

Also known as The Scripture That Slays Immortals

Blurb:

I.

The frost moon is cold, the wind on the waves mournful, the grass grows tall and bleak.

Xin Zhi, a scripture interpreter who became a cultivator, experienced a dream of yellow millet in the Servant Sect.

In the dream, two young men stood before him, one dressed in blue and the other in white.

They called to him and took him with them to roam the Great Wilderness.

Xin Zhi could not cultivate, but when the young man in white laid a hand on his head, a Dao root grew in his heart.

The young man in white taught him techniques to split the sky and shatter stone, and to cast spells with a flick of his fingers, cleaving away all the darkness of the Great Wilderness.

In a flash, he glimpsed his lifespan withering away in the sky. The young man in blue stopped him and pointed at the lifespan returning to dust. "If you catch it, the techniques you've learned will vanish."

Xin Zhi looked up at the vast blue sky. The sun and moon within reach were the arts he had won through all his effort.

What choice did he have?

All he could do was bury that lifespan, like falling blossoms.

The young man in blue led him by the hand, and the young man in white guided him onward.

The two sang together: "How mournful, how wretched, my lifespan! How joyful, how glorious, my splendor!"

Xin Zhi slowly joined in, singing louder and louder until he woke in the Servant Sect.

Outside the dream, he was still a good-for-nothing who could not cultivate.

But he no longer wanted to be one.

II.

Bai Lan was born with an understanding of human nature. On the day he mourned the death of Senior Brother Xin Zhi, he saw a young man in blue and another in white walking toward him.

They told him Bai Lan was the ink they had left behind in the world. Once he had been steeped in the brush of the mortal world, he had matured early and learned the emotions and desires of the heart.

But for that very reason, Bai Lan could never focus his mind, and had no hope of advancing. The young man in blue taught him the art of painting, telling him to paint everything he had felt in his life onto the young man in white.

With every stroke, his feelings for the world faded a little. But he could directly gain insight into the scriptures and advance in a single leap.

To find out the truth behind Senior Brother Xin Zhi's death, Bai Lan resolutely embarked on this path of advancement.

He covered the young man in white with paintings until he could squeeze out not even a drop of ink. The young man in blue brought him a painting and told him to fill in the final falling blossoms.

With that last stroke, Bai Lan lost his mind and left behind all worldly feelings.

He asked the two of them:

Why did you paint the falling blossoms so sorrowfully?

The young man in white only said:

You are forgetting someone from your past.

III.

The world's beginning and end cannot be known. Only one heavenly law has endured:

The Xiang people produce scriptures, mortals interpret scriptures, and cultivators consume scriptures.

By cultivating through the scriptures, the world continues its cycle.

The balance of the Heavenly Dao does not favor one side.

If you do not wish to rely on the scriptures, you must pay the price.

Notes:

1. Written in POV style, with updates according to rankings. There are 11 characters, no CP, and multiple POVs. The current plan is five male POVs, five female POVs, and one genderless POV, in the following story order: 12 male, 34 female, 5 male, 67 female, 8 male, 9 genderless, 10 male, 11 female.

2. The world is fictional. The settings and furnishings in the story draw on different Chinese dynasties, so there's no need to research them in depth.

3. All the scriptures used are from Laozi's Dao De Jing (Laozi Jing), primarily the silk manuscript version.

4. Immortal cultivation is the main focus. The cultivation system is original, inspired by the Dao De Jing. There are three major realms. From lowest to highest: the Five Primordial States (Taiyi, Taichu, Taisu, Taishi, Taiji), the Three Qi States (Human Qi, Earth Qi, Heavenly Qi), and the Three Heavens (Heaven of Creation, Heaven of Condensed Qi, Heaven of Integration).

5. The eleven stories have tragic elements. There is progression, but this is not a wish-fulfillment novel. Some plot points contain bizarre and mildly disturbing elements.

6. On February 22, the genre was changed to multiple POVs.

7. On August 8, the blurb and first two chapters were substantially revised. Readers, please take the time to read them.

Theme: My fate is mine to command, not Heaven's