Chapter 21: The Method of Reading
The first page was the title page, blank as snow, with only eight bold characters in thick ink, exceptionally clear. No matter who opened this book, they could not possibly miss them.
An ordinary person, upon seeing this scene, would certainly first carefully ponder what profound meaning lay hidden within, then, carrying their understanding of those eight characters, continue reading. Chen Changsheng was different. He did not turn to the next page. Instead, he rose, walked to the bookshelf, found several books related to marrow cleansing, and flipped through them rapidly. Discovering that the title pages of all these books bore the same eight characters, he then sat back down on the floor to continue reading, his mind settling upon the paper, with nothing else distracting him.
The text of the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing was concise. He read it carefully, and before long, he had finished the first chapter. This chapter discussed how to cultivate spiritual sense. He did not stop there to ponder or attempt anything, but continued reading backward. The contents of the subsequent chapters gradually lodged in his mind—they mainly covered three aspects: cultivating spiritual sense, seeking one's destiny star, and drawing starlight into the body.
He finished reading in only half an hour, then closed the book and began to meditate with his eyes shut.
After about ten breaths, he opened his eyes, flipped the book open again, and began reading once more.
This time, he took even less time than the first, finishing again in the span of a few incense sticks.
Then he closed his eyes again to meditate on the book's contents.
A few breaths later, he opened his eyes and began reading yet again.
He repeated this several times, and the sunlight streaming through the window remained just as blazing as before.
The last time he closed the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing, he did not open it again.
He took out brush and ink, and without consulting the book, relying solely on the memory in his mind, he began to record certain thoughts he had while reading.
Before long, the paper was densely covered with characters.
The moment he finally set the brush down on the inkstone, the entire contents of the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing were etched into his mind like stone carvings.
Most crucially, this was not mechanical memorization, but true understanding.
This was Chen Changsheng's method of reading.
This method was unique—a precious treasure he and his senior brother, Yu Ren, had gained through over a decade of arduous study in Xining Town. Though the old temple in Xining Town was unremarkable, its collection of books was vast as an ocean. To memorize so many books in the shortest possible time naturally required some very special abilities.
With this reading method, a book did not need to be first read thick, then read thin, and finally read thick again. In fact, most of the books in the old temple of Xining Town remained as pristine as ever, yet their contents had been completely memorized by the two brothers.
The most important step in this method was the final note-taking, whether recorded on paper or in one's own mind. It served to reorganize and confirm the entire reading process. Only after completing this step could it be said that the reader had fully transformed the book's content into their own knowledge.
Finishing the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing and closing the book was naturally not the end. "Learn and practice it at times"—this could be done in the mind or in notebooks. But what was the purpose of reading and learning? It was practice. His purpose in reading the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing was to successfully cleanse his marrow and begin cultivation.
The first step of marrow cleansing was to condense spiritual sense. Spiritual sense was the spiritual power of humans. In more common terms, it could be explained as: "thinking." As long as the thought was intense enough and focused enough, it would transform into a kind of power.
This sounded easy, as if one only needed to furrow one's brows like mountains and rivers to imagine oneself freely roaming through magnificent landscapes. But that was not the case, because whether spiritual sense could be generated depended entirely on the strength of the soul. Soul strength was pure talent, unrelated to effort. No matter how hard an ordinary person tried, could their soul strength possibly surpass the bloodline of a phoenix reincarnated?
Chen Changsheng had been preparing for cultivation for many years. More precisely, ever since his body underwent a strange change at the age of ten, he had been silently waiting for this day. He knew there was something wrong with his meridians—what his master called his "illness." Nine segments of his meridians were blocked, unable to connect. His soul could not circulate within his body and was forced to be expelled through sweat. Although, after he turned ten, his master used medicine to suppress this, preventing further loss of soul essence, it remained a problem. Otherwise, during the Heavenly Dao Academy assessment, that black sensing stone would not have failed to detect any spiritual sense within his body.
If the soul was not strong enough, how could spiritual sense be condensed?
Without spiritual sense, how could it be emitted?
How was he supposed to take this first step of marrow cleansing?
Chen Changsheng did not feel the disappointment of those who had just discovered they were hopeless for cultivation, nor did he despair.
He firmly believed that countless years ago, countless people of great wisdom must have already solved this problem, because there were many like him. In the Daoist texts he had read, there were often records of some down-and-out person finding a genius method and thus becoming a peerless expert, like Wang Zhice. But he did not intend to do that, because his meridian problem had no parallel case in the books. If even his master said it could not be cured, then that was fate. He did not have the extra time to wrestle with destiny, nor did he think he could come up with a new genius method in a short time. He preferred to go with the flow. He believed that by following the existing methods of the world, he could also condense spiritual sense and begin cultivation. He trusted the wisdom of his predecessors more than anyone.
"Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will reveal itself."
All books related to marrow cleansing bore these eight striking characters. Clearly, these eight characters were the most crucial part of marrow cleansing, the part that predecessors wanted to pass on to later generations. But which book was to be read?
Chen Changsheng looked at the densely packed table of contents on the back cover of the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing, at the titles that were either balanced and moderate or unorthodox and sharp. He shook his head, realizing that even after arriving in the capital, he still had to continue the days of Xining Town.
If this were a place like the Heavenly Dao Academy or the Star-Gathering Academy, students needing to break through the marrow cleansing stage would naturally have teachers tell them that the key to marrow cleansing was to read a large number of related books to strengthen the soul and thus condense spiritual sense in one go.
The Treatise on Marrow Cleansing was only the general outline. The real objects of study were the forty-nine books listed on the back cover.
Of course, this did not mean that all students had to read these forty-nine books a hundred times each to nurture their souls to the point of condensing spiritual sense. Most of the time, halfway through the process, the reader's spiritual sense would already be condensed like a bundle, completing the process.
This process was not better the earlier it was completed. If someone condensed spiritual sense after reading only one book ten times, that person would likely be the cultivator with the weakest spiritual sense in history. Conversely, the more books one read, the more times one read them, the more the soul was nurtured and strengthened, yet still not breaking through that thin paper, until finally spiritual sense was condensed—such spiritual sense was truly powerful.
If someone could read all forty-nine books in the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing's table of contents a hundred times each before finally condensing spiritual sense, then they might achieve the most perfect state when drawing starlight to cleanse their marrow. But this situation was extremely rare. Except for those lucky ones with innate bloodlines, basically no one could do it.
This was a very stimulating process. As time passed, as the number of books read and the times read increased, one could look forward to becoming a genius with powerful spiritual sense. But it was also entirely possible that in the end, one could not condense spiritual sense at all and could only remain an ordinary person.
Hope and disappointment would be magnified with each step of the reading process, eventually turning into a huge gamble. No one knew the outcome of the gamble. Only when you finished reading these books, read them a hundred times, would the result automatically appear.
Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will reveal itself.
That was what it meant.
...
...
After reading the Treatise on Marrow Cleansing once, Chen Changsheng did not feel any change in his body. He did not feel his soul, and naturally, he did not feel his spiritual sense. He did not immediately go to read the books listed on the back cover but began to calculate.
He believed his reading efficiency was higher than ordinary people's, so perhaps he would not need to actually read a hundred times. Twenty or thirty times might be enough. There were forty-nine books in the annotations. Based on his average reading efficiency, in the first round, he could finish at most seven books a day. Seven days to finish the first reading. Even if his speed gradually increased over time, to read all these books completely would take at least half a year. Did he have half a year? No. So what should he do? After arriving in the capital, he felt troubled for the first time.
If others knew of his trouble at this moment, they would surely feel differently. Because in his calculations, it was clear that he intended to read all forty-nine books completely before beginning to condense spiritual sense—if he could condense it at all. In other words, from start to finish, even subconsciously, he actually considered himself on the same level as those geniuses, or even higher.
No wonder Tang Thirty-Six, when they first met, thought he was arrogant. He appeared quiet and cautious, but in fact, in many ways, he had an unfounded absolute self-confidence, which gave people an extremely arrogant impression.
...
...
Just as he was thinking, a breeze suddenly brushed by, and a shadow fell, covering the characters on the back cover.
Chen Changsheng looked up and saw a pretty young girl staring at him with a cold smile.
He was sitting on the floor at the moment, so the girl naturally looked down on him.
The girl was Shuang'er of the Eastern Divine General's Mansion. She looked at the text about marrow cleansing on the pages beside Chen Changsheng, understood what he intended to do, and said with a hint of mockery, "Starting marrow cleansing at fourteen—isn't that a bit late?"
Chen Changsheng said seriously, "Hearing the Dao has its order. Some start early but arrive late; some start late but arrive first."
Shuang'er had not expected such an answer. She was stunned for a moment, then said contemptuously, "Forty-nine volumes, a hundred times each, ten days—that was the number my young lady set when she condensed her spiritual sense at four years old. 'Start late but arrive first'? Where can you possibly arrive first?"
Chen Changsheng thought it over and found himself at a loss for how to respond.