"At the third watch the oil-lamp burns, at the fifth watch the rooster crows;
This is the time for a young man to study.
If in youth he does not study hard and early,
In old age he will only regret his wasted time!"
As the wild roosters in the desolate wilderness began to crow, all three Lesser Master of Fates opened their eyes and looked in shock at Yanyan, who was sitting cross-legged on a mat, continually writing and drawing on the ground with his hand.
"Don't you sleep at all?" the black-clothed Lesser Master of Fate asked Yanyan in disbelief.
As one of the five Grand Elders of the Yin-Yang School, their cultivation levels were naturally not low, but even they hadn't woken up this early.
"Why sleep so long while alive, when there will be endless sleep after death!" Yanyan smiled faintly, brushed away the "Encouragement to Learn" he had just written on the ground, and left the camp alone.
"Are Confucian School disciples all this diligent?" The Black and White Sisters looked at Lesser Master of Fate, their faces filled with disbelief.
What hour of the night was this, yet he was already up studying?
Besides, it was still the chilly turn of the season, and the early morning was exceptionally cold.
"He's probably just putting on a show!" The black-clothed Lesser Master of Fate thought for a moment. To attract their attention, it wasn't unheard of for disciples of the Yin-Yang School to put on such an academic facade, though none of them ever kept it up for long.
Lesser Master of Fate frowned slightly, watching Yanyan's receding figure, seemingly agreeing with the Black and White Sisters' guess.
Even so, Lesser Master of Fate rose and followed behind Yanyan, keeping her distance.
Yanyan knew they were following him, but he just smiled slightly and paid them no mind.
What was this compared to anything?
At Yushan Academy, he had become the Senior Disciple not just by outliving the others, but through decades of day-after-day diligence!
Add to that a bit of hindsight from later generations, and his understanding and views on the classical texts were vastly different from those of the ancients, so the teachers at Yushan Academy had often been struck with awe by his thoughts and insights!
Arriving at the riverbank, Yanyan splashed the icy river water on his face to wake his mind, and then began to recite the "Analects".
They say half the "Analects" is enough to govern the world, but the most crucial part is truly the opening chapter and its very first line: "Is it not a pleasure to learn and practice what you have learned at due times?"
The three Lesser Master of Fates watched and listened from afar, only to realize that Yanyan seemed truly lost in his own world, paying no attention to them and not even sparing them a single glance!
"A domain!" All three Lesser Master of Fates were shocked!
They had heard that certain top experts possessed domains entirely of their own—realms within which only oneself existed, with no one else in the entire world.
Yet those capable of mastering a domain were without exception genius experts obsessed with their chosen path.
For instance, Gai Nie, the contemporary vertical swordsman of Guigu, was said to be a genius of the sword, a born swordsman in whose world only the sword existed!
They had never expected to witness such a genius within the Confucian School as well!
Yanyan was actually quite puzzled by this state of his own. It was a method of study he had comprehended from the School of Mind, one that allowed him to rapidly and wholly immerse himself in learning.
When it comes to the so-called School of Mind, idealism and materialism, many people actually misunderstand, believing idealism to be wrong and that the world is purely material!
Only when one truly understands what the School of Mind is does one realize that idealism and materialism are not in conflict.
To call idealism wrong is to view it from a materialist perspective; naturally, that would be wrong. When your starting point is biased, how can you distinguish right from wrong?
In Yanyan's view, the School of Mind is actually an attitude.
For example, when studying, he felt that nothing was more important than study, so he actively blocked out the world, immersing himself in his own realm and making the entire universe revolve around his heart and mind.
In this way, nothing could interfere with his learning.
Naturally, it followed that you only exist when I look at you; when I don't look at you, what does your existence or non-existence have to do with me?
Consequently, after comprehending that "there are no things outside the mind," Yanyan's study efficiency reached a startling degree. Every time he re-read and recited the classics, he gained new insights and different understandings.
"Is he crazy?" The three Lesser Master of Fates kept watching Yanyan, only to see him at one moment dancing with joy as if he had thought of something wonderful, and at the next squatting down with deeply furrowed brows, pondering bitterly over some difficult problem.
"He truly must not know martial arts!
If he did know martial arts, with this state of mind where 'there are nothing outside the mind,'
I'm afraid no one among the Hundred Schools of Thought would be his match at his age!"
The white-clothed Lesser Master of Fate whispered, feeling a mix of envy and self-reproach.
At the same time, her brow carried a trace of sorrow and helplessness.
The Yin-Yang School had deviated from the Taoist School's gradual and orderly approach, pursuing the ultimate limits of heaven and man, which meant that many of their martial arts came at the cost of overdrawing mental energy and life force.
Because of this, although successive Grand Elders of the Yin-Yang School appeared powerful, their lifespans were actually very limited and short.
As the current Wood Department Elders of the Yin-Yang School, the two sisters actually didn't have much time left, even without Lesser Master of Fate hunting them down.
"The living take form, the dead leave no shadow; the soul has parted, the breath has extinguished—this is the Lesser Master of Fate!" At some point, Yanyan had already stepped out of his state of "nothing outside the mind" and walked up to them.
"You know!" The Black and White Sisters stared at Yanyan in shock.
The reason they were being hunted by the Yin-Yang School was precisely because they had learned of their destined fate from the previous Lesser Master of Fate, which was why they had chosen to flee.
"Do you two have some kind of misunderstanding about the preeminent schools of thought in the world?" Yanyan smiled and shook his head.
"The preeminent schools of the world are prominent not just because our sects have many disciples and powerful masters, but because our traditions are far more ancient and we know far more!"
"The Yin-Yang School originated from the Taoist School, while the Confucian School, the Mohist School, and the Taoist School are equally renowned as the world's preeminent schools. Our understanding of the Yin-Yang School is far greater than you imagine."
"The waters of the Hundred Schools of Thought run deep, and the waters of the three preeminent schools run deeper still!"
There were numerous records concerning the Yin-Yang School's Lesser Master of Fate within the Confucian School. Furthermore, as a branch of the Confucian School in the south, the Yan Family developed within the Chu State alongside the Yin-Yang School, making their understanding of the Yin-Yang School even more profound.
As it happened, Yanyan had thoroughly read through all the collections at Yushan Academy and knew several esoteric secrets regarding the martial arts of the Yin-Yang School.
Take the Myriad Leaves Flying Blossom Style, for instance. As the supreme martial art practiced exclusively by the Wood Department Elders of the Yin-Yang School, despite belonging to the Wood Department, it reversed yin and yang. Instead of possessing the endless, self-renewing vitality of the Taoist School's supreme wood-attribute mental cultivation method, the Art of Ten Thousand Things Returning to Spring, it traded life and soul to pursue overwhelmingly fierce and violent offensive power.
Consequently, the higher the cultivation and the more frequently it was used, the shorter one's lifespan became.
As for the Lesser Master of Fate, she was the one Yanyan found most curious, because she seemed unaffected by the Myriad Leaves Flying Blossom Style—or rather, she was the Lesser Master of Fate ordained by destiny itself!
They say Heaven has three lights: sun, moon, and stars.
Man has three treasures: essence, breath, and spirit!
Yet the Lesser Master of Fate was exceptionally unusual; her essence, breath, and spirit seemed as solid as a fortress of stone. Even the Myriad Leaves Flying Blossom Style could not drain her essence, breath, and spirit, yet this did not hinder her in the slightest from unleashing the terrifyingly powerful Myriad Leaves Flying Blossom Style.
Therefore, Yanyan was also extremely curious about where the Yin-Yang School had managed to find such a baffling girl of three nothingnesses!