Nine Arts and Five Ways: Let’s Test the Heavens

Zhang Xingji is preparing for the college entrance exam when his Chinese textbook and math papers suck him into the Wilds Between Heaven and Earth. Here, the Three Suns and Three Moons drain cultivators of their vitality and spirit. There are demons and spirits who speak in dialects, weapon cultivators who wield bricks, and beauty cultivators so stunning they cling to people and flirt with them just to attain the Dao. Most importantly, Zhang Xingji discovers that the nine subjects he studied throughout high school have become the Nine Arts of this world. The Nine Arts are divided into literary and martial arts, and those who reach the pinnacle of cultivation can be called First-Rate: The Chinese Art of Meng, whose martial path is First-Rate Thoroughness. The Mathematical Art of Heaven’s Secrets, whose literary path is First-Rate Defiance of Time. The English Art of Banners, the Historical Art of Spring and Autumn, the Geographic Art of Earth and Land, the Political Art of the Qiantai, the Biological Art of a Thousand Spirits, the Physical Art of Investigating Things, and the Athletic Art of Halting War. Above the Nine Arts lies their Confluence. There are also the five paths of the Radiant River Corridor: the Mortal, Martial, Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian paths. Each has five realms and twelve palaces, with hidden realms and hidden palaces beyond them. Zhang Xingji can’t hold back any longer. Who can blame him for being here at just the right time? He smiles faintly as nine vortices form of their own accord within his heart well and slowly turn. With the Nine Arts mastered and all five paths at his command, Zhang Xingji gazes up at the Three Suns and Three Moons. He will bring the city in the heavens down to the mortal world, and the debts of the mortal world must be repaid there. His brows and eyes dance with energy. Resting a long sword across his knees, he smiles brightly. “Please, give it everything you’ve got and learn what it means for the Nine Arts to converge and turn the clouds and seas upside down, and for a hidden realm and hidden palace to unleash the fury of an ordinary man!” With these Nine Arts and Five Paths, I’ll see just how high the heavens really are!