Techniques and Dao

Chapter 6 The Mysteries of Immortal Arts
The Academy of Arts and Crafts. The sun shines brightly and the breeze is gentle.

Before we knew it, it was time to go to school.

At 5:45 AM, Hua Sheng, led by Tai Shang Xiao Jun, arrived at a place called "Si Xian Ge" (Pavilion of Contemplating Immortals). Si Xian Ge was over forty meters tall, with nine stories, and open on all four sides. From the top, one could see the magnificent scenery of the Magic Academy. Hua Sheng was initially worried that the lack of shelter would cause him to fall off the edge, but upon reaching the edge, he discovered that it was surrounded by a magical barrier.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun explained that the pavilion is equipped with a Qimen Feng Shui formation, which acts like a fence, so there is no need to worry. In addition, insects such as mosquitoes cannot fly into the building unless one knows how to break the formation.

Looking outwards, Hua Sheng saw three other similar tall buildings standing not far away. These four buildings together are called "Si Xian Ge", "Hui Xian Ge", "Qi Xian Ge" and "Yu Xian Ge", which must all be places for teaching and imparting knowledge within the academy.

Hua Sheng walked into the schoolroom, where more than twenty disciples were already sitting on the floor. He and Tai Shang Xiao Jun found two empty seats nearby and took out the books they had received earlier from their bags. According to the instructions, the book they would be learning at the beginning of the semester was called "The Book of Auspicious Wishes." Hua Sheng glanced through it briefly; it was full of magical spells for cutting paper into horses and scattering beans to create soldiers.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "This is a basic textbook, mostly consisting of illusionary techniques. I'll show you my 'All Laws Return to the Source' later; it contains all the cool immortal techniques. I'll teach you that book from now on."

Hua Sheng nodded and straightened her college uniform.

At that moment, he noticed an elderly man dressed in white Taoist robes, holding a whisk, descending from the sky and floating into the room from the edge of the pavilion. After landing, the old man walked to the desk in front. He had a flowing beard and an air of otherworldly elegance. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and had a kind face. He sat cross-legged on the cushion and slowly surveyed the disciples sitting below him.

“His name is Immortal Master Yu Ran.” Tai Shang Xiao Jun nudged Hua Sheng, who was sitting next to him. “He is a Grandmaster-level immortal in the Immortal Realm and a highly respected immortal master in the Academy of Arts and Sciences.”

Master Yu Ran glanced at Tai Shang Xiao Jun and smiled gently, saying, "Good morning, disciples. I am Yu Ran. It seems some of you already know me. Since we share a master-disciple bond, let me first share my teaching principles with you. As the saying goes, 'Do good to establish yourself, study to establish your destiny.' What I will teach you is to understand the fundamental laws governing the operation of all things in the world. Apply them well, and you can benefit all after you leave this place. As the saying goes, 'Misfortune and fortune have no gate, but are summoned by oneself.' You must keep this firmly in mind in your daily practice!"

Master Yu Ran adjusted his glasses and said, “In the Academy, all of you disciples can learn many immortal arts. In short, besides the commonly used transformation techniques, fire control techniques, and wall-penetrating techniques, those with exceptional talent can learn higher-level arts, such as celestial phenomena techniques, sealing techniques, ascension techniques, dragon-slaying techniques, soul-traveling techniques, divine summoning techniques, and feigned death techniques. The methods of immortal arts are vast and profound, and it is extremely difficult to master them all. Not to mention humans or spirits, even immortals may not be able to achieve this. Therefore, the vast majority of disciples can only learn a little bit or master a few arts in their entire lives, and it takes more than a thousand years of cultivation to say that.”

"But you must all remember that techniques are merely methods and tools. The most important thing is how you use them. Only by keeping the righteous path in mind at all times can you benefit the world. The way of heaven is cyclical, teaching and enlightening all beings. I hope you will always follow the righteous path and have reverence for all things."

Hua Sheng raised his hand and asked, "Immortal Master, can mortals learn immortal arts?"

This immediately caused a burst of laughter.

"I heard there's a new transfer student today, this must be him," said Immortal Master Yu Ran. "Of course, mortals can learn immortal arts. There are many stories of people seeking immortality and attaining enlightenment in the mortal realm. However, due to differences in natural talent, mortals will learn at different paces."

Immortal Master Yu Ran raised his voice slightly: "You all come from different places, and your talents vary. But here, with the immortal masters of the Dao of Arts Academy, diligent mortals can still learn immortal arts, and even learn better and faster than those playful descendants of immortals!"

Upon hearing this, the immortal disciples instantly felt an invisible pressure.

"Mortals worship immortals, believing them to be omnipotent, but that's not entirely true. Immortal arts have their limits. You can conjure a cup of water by chanting an incantation, but chanting it billions of times won't create a monstrous wave that could engulf the world. The so-called creation from nothing is merely a mortal's one-sided understanding. The core of immortal arts isn't about fabricating things out of thin air, but about changing shapes, methods, and positions." Immortal Master Yu Ran raised his left hand, and instantly a floating fireball appeared in the air above it. "This fire is the energy I've gathered from the surrounding area. If this place gets hot, the temperature in another place will inevitably decrease. This is what mortals often refer to as the conservation of energy."

With a flick of his wrist, the flames vanished instantly, transforming into a dazzling golden bracelet floating in mid-air. "This is gold. As I just said, it's an element from the gold mines of our world. Once it reaches here, it will inevitably diminish in other places. The magic only changed its location and shape."

In the next instant, the gold bracelet disintegrated and disappeared.

Master Yu Ran said, "So-called immortal arts do not create objects or elements that do not exist in this world. They only change them."

A disciple sitting at the back of the classroom raised his hand and asked, "Immortal Master Yu Ran, how do immortal techniques make these things appear or disappear?" This disciple looked plain-looking, and the one who could ask this question should also be a mortal disciple with a weak foundation, similar to Hua Sheng.

"Making objects appear or disappear. It depends on how you interpret it, because there are two different ways. The first and most common is illusion." Master Yu Ran waved his hand, and suddenly a small bird appeared on the table, sitting there with an adorable appearance and dragging a red tongue. "What do you all see?" "A little bird!" The classroom echoed with responses.

“Yes. But please look.” Master Yu Ran reached out to the bird on the table. The bird did not flinch. Suddenly, Master Yu Ran’s fingers seemed to pass through the bird’s body as if passing through a holographic image.

Exclamations of surprise rose and fell throughout the school.

"This bird doesn't actually exist; I used illusion magic, a kind of sleight of hand, to make you see it. So the question is, what kind of bird did you see?"

Hanamoto examined the little bird closely; its body was mostly brownish-brown. It had dark brown vertical stripes on its head, and white eye rings that extended backward into narrow eyebrow lines—it must be a thrush. The female disciple sitting in front of him quickly answered, "A thrush!"

"What?!" Several male students on the other side of the classroom started to shout, "They're calling a parrot a thrush?!"

“Yes, it’s clearly a colorful parrot!” More and more disciples chimed in.

Hua Sheng rubbed his eyes. How could a brown thrush possibly be a colorful parrot? Although he knew very little about birds, colorful parrots were easy to identify. It was somewhat understandable for a thrush to be mistaken for a swallow or a sparrow, but to mistake it for a parrot was truly laughable.

The disciples in the school started arguing. Amid the noise, Hua Sheng noticed a strange sight: the disciples on the left all saw thrushes, while the disciples on the right all saw parrots.

"This is illusion!" Master Yu Ran said. "This bird never existed. What you all saw was only what I wanted you to see. Illusion can be used on people or places. It can be used to cast illusions on a location, making someone who walks to the left see a specific scene, or it can be used to cast illusions on a specific individual, making them see what I want them to see. No one else can see it, no matter where they are, except the person under the spell."

Master Yu Ran waved his hand, and the little bird immediately took flight and flew out the window. Several pages of paper on the desk moved to the side with the movement of the bird's wings, and Master Yu Ran's beard was also stirred by the wind from the bird's wings, fluttering slightly.

"High-level illusions take into account the interaction of the surrounding environment. Illusions have different levels. High-level illusions can make people see, hear, and touch something, and even give the victim the illusion that the speed of time has changed, making them immersed in the false environment and unable to extricate themselves."

Master Yu Ran's words implied powerful magic, capable of instantly "imprisoning" the target without their knowledge.

"The illusion I just mentioned is the first way to make things appear or disappear. But the flames and golden bracelet I conjured earlier were not illusions. This is the second type I want to talk about," said Immortal Master Yu Ran. "The second type is the core of immortal arts: why it can change matter. Because the world we see has its own operating rules and underlying laws. For example, a bucket can hold water. As long as people create buckets, they can change the position of the water. But you can actually hold water with any container. If you don't have a container, and you can't cup it with your hands, but only with two fingers, who can scoop up a cup of water?"

"I have a way!" Hua Sheng raised his hand.

"Let the new disciple speak."

"Freeze the water into ice so you can hold it between your fingers."

"That's not a bad idea. Everyone knows the properties of water; you can turn it into ice and then retrieve it without any container. Mortals understand the common properties of things and make good use of them based on daily life and the laws of nature—that's skill. The same goes for magic. If you understand the laws governing the operation of things themselves, then you can retrieve water with just one finger." As he spoke, Immortal Master Yu Ran lifted the water glass on the table, inserted one finger into the glass, and miraculously retrieved the entire glass of water as if it had frozen solid.

"Immortal arts are a method of changing all things by learning how the universe works and then using that knowledge. In short, immortal arts are about understanding the true meaning behind the world and using that knowledge to change everything around you."

Hua Sheng and his disciples were all eager to get started.

(End of this chapter)