novel-bin Chapter 19 reveals not the path of the fist, but the way of Heaven.
Chapter 19 reveals not the path of the fist, but the way of Heaven.
When the moon was directly overhead, Zhuge Yan walked back to the west wing from the peach grove.
He pushed open the door, lit the oil lamp, and planned to record his insights from the day.
Before I could even pick up the pen, there was a knock on the door.
Zhuge Yan put down his pen.
"Come in."
The door was slowly pushed open, and Lu Jin stood in the doorway.
He had changed out of the dark blue outfit he wore at the banquet and was now wearing a slightly worn gray cloth robe with loose cuffs and a button undone at the collar. He looked much more relaxed than he had at the banquet.
The moonlight shone in from behind him, casting his shadow on the ground in front of Zhuge Yan.
"Senior Brother Zhuge, did I disturb you?"
As she asked the question, Lu Jin had already stepped one foot across the threshold.
"Sorry to bother you."
Zhuge Yan put down his pen and turned around.
"But you won't care."
Lu Jin grinned, closed the door, and walked naturally to the table, pulling over a stool to sit down.
His movements were completely unreserved, as if he had been there many times before.
His gaze swept around the room—the pile of books in the corner, the calculation diagrams spread out on the table.
"Do you usually live here?"
"I've lived here for five years."
"It's bigger than my room at Trinity Gate."
When Lu Jin said this, there was no comparison in his tone; he was simply stating a fact.
He leaned back in his chair, his right hand resting on the table, his knuckles tapping the surface unconsciously twice. Then he got straight to the point.
"After my duel with Senior Brother Zhuge tonight, there are a few things I don't understand."
"Speaking."
"During tonight's match, you were able to dodge every single one of my punches."
It wasn't that I reacted quickly; there were a few times when you were already moving before I could even throw a punch.
Lu Jin frowned slightly, not questioning, but genuinely unable to understand.
"How exactly did you do that?"
Zhuge Yan glanced at him, and the flame of the oil lamp flickered gently between the two of them.
"I've been using Qimen Dunjia for divination."
Lu Jin was stunned for a moment.
"What do you mean? In such a short time, you've completely figured out my fighting style?"
"I didn't calculate your boxing style."
Zhuge Yan spoke in a very calm tone, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.
"It is the way of Heaven."
"The Way of Heaven?"
Zhuge Yan walked to the table, picked up a pen, and drew a very simple diagram in the blank space of the half-finished deduction diagram.
A small circle represents a person, and several outward-spreading arcs are drawn around the circle.
"Everything operates according to its own laws. When does a tree shed its leaves? From where does a gust of wind blow? In which direction will a person take the next step?"
In the eyes of a sorcerer, these are all 'numbers' that can be deduced.
He touched the curved line with the tip of his pen.
"The core of Wuhou Qimen is never about calculating how fast or how powerful the opponent's punches are; that's the mindset of a martial artist."
The sorcerer's mindset is to use the Qimen Dunjia techniques he has learned to connect with the laws governing the operation of the heavens and perceive the changing patterns of all things in the world.
Before your body even moves, the "numbers" between heaven and earth have already begun to shift.
The moment you shift your weight to your right foot, the energy field around you will tilt to the right first.
The moment you prepare to throw your left punch, a faint "illusion" will appear on your left side first.
Before your body even moves, the natural rhythms have already started.
I don't need to know what punch you're going to throw; I only need to know that 'Heaven's Way' tells me that at this moment, the attack will come from this direction.
He put down his pen.
"So what I see through is not your fighting style, but the way of heaven; I have simply come to understand it."
Upon hearing this, Lu Jin fell silent, and then gradually, the expression on his face changed.
It wasn't just a sudden realization, it was shock!
He stepped forward, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"So, from beginning to end, you were always one step ahead of me, not because you saw through my fist techniques, but because you were constantly using the art of divination to probe the ways of heaven?"
Zhuge Yan nodded.
Lu Jin nodded at him, his expression as if he had heard something completely beyond his comprehension.
"That's impossible."
When he said those four words, there was no offense in his tone; it was a pure, unadorned shock.
"I know a lot of sorcerers. Although the Sanyi Sect does not practice Qimen Dunjia, my master has taken me to many sects, including Wudang, Shuzimen, and Shangqing. I have been to all of these sects."
Qimen Dunjia divination requires time, quiet time, and the ability to plan step by step in one's mind.
I believe that your Wuhou School's elders practice meditation and perceive the laws of heaven and earth in stillness.
But you claim that in actual combat, while dodging my punches, you were simultaneously converting four different spells and calculating the laws of nature in real time?
Lu Jin stared intently at Zhuge Yan.
"Just processing the information in the battle itself is enough to drive a person crazy: location, distance, the opponent's movements, your own body, and the circulation of true qi."
If all of these things come flooding in, it would be a miracle if an ordinary person could handle it.
Do you want to add another layer of deduction about the Heavenly Dao on top of this information?
This approach might be manageable when dealing with much weaker opponents, but in a contest between equals, even a slight delay in calculation could result in a punch to the head.
Who can take a punch while playing chess with God?
Zhuge Yan remained silent for a while.
He knew Lu Jin was right.
A normal warlock cannot do this, or rather, it is very difficult for them to do so.
Unlike the later Feng Hou Qi Men, which had an overpowered design, Wu Hou Qi Men, although it also determined its own central palace, could not freely rotate the four plates like Feng Hou Qi Men.
The overall situation of this game was irreversible the moment the central palace was determined.
All a warlock can do is to utilize the "situation" through extensive calculations within a fixed game.
Three years ago, he couldn't even complete the simplest Eight Gates deduction in the training ground because his brain couldn't keep up with the large amount of information.
The essence of Qimen Dunjia is to perceive the laws of heaven and earth, but "perception" and "deduction" are two different things.
Perception requires stillness. One must enter a meditative state, engage in inner vision, or practice meditation to touch upon the subtle "numbers" between heaven and earth in a state of extreme stillness.
Deduction, on the other hand, involves using the brain to analyze and predict after perceiving the pattern.
These two steps combined put a cumulative strain on the brain.
What warlocks can use in battle is often a pre-planned strategy.
Just like a pre-written program, you can just run it step by step.
Those who can connect with the Heavenly Dao while fighting are either veterans who have practiced for decades and have made perception and deduction instinctive, or their opponents are too weak and give them breathing room.
In a life-or-death struggle of the same level, one must also perceive the changes in the natural order in real time. This is not a matter of whether one tries hard or not; it is simply pushing the physiological limits of the human brain!
However, Zhuge Yan was no ordinary sorcerer.