Chapter 222: Ten Thousand Methods of Stele Interpretation (Part 2)
Interpreting a stele is not about solving the riddles on the Heavenly Book Stele, because those complex lines or patterns on the stele are not questions, but information. Interpreting the stele means understanding that information. Since the Heavenly Book Stele is not a set of questions, it naturally follows that there cannot be any standard answers.
Just like starlight shining upon a hundred rivers—the same starlight falling on different rivers creates its own unique beauty. The inscriptions on the Heavenly Book Stele remain unchanged; how one understands them is their own affair. Depending on the observer’s knowledge, cultivation realm, and even life experience, the same inscription will naturally yield different interpretations. So which interpretation is correct? As said before, there is no standard answer. The Heavenly Book Stele does not speak; it only distinguishes using the simplest yet most miraculous method.
For as many years as the Heavenly Book Stele has stood on this continent, humans have been trying to interpret it, developing countless methods or schools of interpretation. Even today, dozens of schools are still commonly used or mentioned. Among them, three methods are most revered and can be considered mainstream.
The National Religion’s Li Palace, which holds the highest authority in interpreting the Heavenly Book Stele, favors a method that emphasizes adhering to the form, believing that one should follow the patterns to guide their true essence. The Southern Sect, which is the Holy Maiden Peak lineage, leans toward grasping the essence, believing that the inscriptions should not be interpreted rigidly but rather comprehended through spiritual awareness alongside them. The third mainstream method, while seemingly balancing the characteristics of the National Religion’s northern and southern sects, firmly insists that the inscriptions on the Heavenly Book Stele are clearly meant to be sword intent, sword momentum, and sword techniques. This school is called the Technique School.
How to interpret the Heavenly Book Stele is a matter of great importance. The split of the National Religion into northern and southern systems back then was related to this. To this day, cultivators from the Southern Holy Maiden Peak still harbor resentment over Li Palace’s control of the stele’s rights. Depending on the emphasis of their interpretation methods, different cultivators naturally gain different insights from the Heavenly Book Stele. Strangely enough, whether it’s Li Palace’s method or the Holy Maiden Peak’s method, both are viable in a sense. Cultivators who enter the Heavenly Book Mausoleum will inevitably gain something, and those who gain something become even more convinced that their method is the only correct one, while other schools are merely cutting corners—even if they succeed temporarily, they will ultimately stray further from the Great Path.
Tang Thirty-Six, being a Zhou citizen, naturally believed that Li Palace’s interpretation method was orthodox. Guan Feibai, a disciple of the Li Mountain Sword Sect, thought that only spiritual interpretation was the true path. Hearing Tang Thirty-Six’s tone, he couldn’t hold back and began mocking him through the door. With Tang Thirty-Six’s temperament, even if you didn’t provoke him, he’d still greet your family; being mocked like this, his face changed instantly. He slammed the table and stood up, unleashing a string of curses. For a time, the thatched cottage was lively, with a battle of words raging on.
After a while, Tang Thirty-Six and Guan Feibai finally tired, and the cottage grew quieter. Then, with the door as the dividing line, two very similar scenes emerged on either side—outside, Guan Feibai, Liang Banhu, and Qi Jian looked toward their senior brother Gou Hanshi; inside, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu stared at Chen Changsheng in silence.
From the Ivy Banquet to the Grand Examination, the National Academy and the Li Mountain Sword Sect had been at odds. Whether it was Chen Changsheng’s engagement to Xu Yourong or the consecutive matches, their grievances were countless. Although Zhe Xiu was a latecomer, during the Grand Examination, he had ruthlessly defeated Qi Jian and Guan Feibai to clear the way for Chen Changsheng, making him quite detestable in the eyes of the Li Mountain Sword Sect. Under the control of Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, this hostility hadn’t spiraled out of control. Last night, both sides even slept under the same roof, but that didn’t mean the grudges were resolved. Now that Guan Feibai and Tang Thirty-Six’s debate—or rather, shouting match—had reached a dead end, someone needed to step up and settle the score.
The ones expected to do so were, of course, Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, both well-versed in the Daoist Canon.
A night breeze swept through, and the wooden door creaked open slowly. The four disciples of the Li Mountain Sword Sect and the three from the National Academy stared at each other in dead silence.
Gou Hanshi suddenly looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, “Which interpretation method do you think is more feasible?”
He didn’t ask which was correct, because that was hard to determine.
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment but didn’t answer immediately.
The Daoist Canon elaborated on many schools of interpretation, and the three mainstream methods were recorded in great detail. Since he had read the entire canon, he was familiar with all these methods. Yet, for some reason, when he interpreted the Zhaojing Stele today, he deliberately avoided using these three methods and instead took a strange, inevitably difficult new path.
“I think… none of these three methods are necessarily correct.”
Chen Changsheng gave an answer no one expected, and he used the word “correct,” indicating he believed there was a right and wrong in this matter.
Hearing his words, the people in the cottage were shocked, including Tang Thirty-Six.
Gou Hanshi frowned slightly and said, “Are you suggesting that the Heavenly Book cannot be interpreted?”
Many methods of interpretation circulated on the continent, and many people—including some priests of the National Religion—believed the Heavenly Book was uninterpretable. They thought all attempts to decipher the inscriptions were absurd and laughable. Even those with great wisdom could only grasp certain information the inscriptions intended for humans to see, never the full picture of the true meaning of the Heavenly Path.
“No, I just think that the common interpretation schools today have strayed from the original meaning of the Heavenly Book Stele.”
Chen Changsheng said in a calm tone, “Whether it’s adhering to the form, grasping the essence, or imitating the technique, the purpose of interpreting the inscriptions is all for cultivation. But in reality, the first humans who saw the Heavenly Book Stele—or rather, the first person who understood it—couldn’t cultivate… So I believe these three methods are all incorrect.”
The cottage grew even quieter, because everyone suddenly realized Chen Changsheng’s argument made sense. Gou Hanshi, however, shook his head and said, “If you can’t cultivate, you naturally can’t interpret the profound meanings of cultivation. But we can cultivate… It’s like a child who can’t read will never grasp the beauty of human poetry and songs, but we can. According to your reasoning, would we have to forget all our knowledge and become ignorant children to understand the original meaning of the Heavenly Book Stele?”
Tang Thirty-Six said uncertainly, “With a pure heart and innocent mind, one can approach the Great Path—that’s what the Daoist Canon says… Maybe it’s really like that?”
“Abandoning sainthood and rejecting wisdom doesn’t mean turning us into fools,” Qi Jian said clearly.
Gou Hanshi raised his hand to signal a pause on this discussion and asked Chen Changsheng, “So what method did you use to interpret the stele today?”
Chen Changsheng didn’t hide anything. He told them about his sudden insight while observing the stele before dawn and the changes in the scenery he noticed in the courtyard. He said, “If the inscriptions are an unchanging object of contemplation, why do people interpret them so differently? So I believe the meaning of the inscriptions lies in change.”
Gou Hanshi thought for a moment and said, “Seven hundred years ago, Prince Chen Zizhan of Ruyang entered the Heavenly Book Mausoleum to observe the steles and wrote an essay about it. It seems to align with your view.”
“Yes,” Chen Changsheng said. “Prince Ruyang spent a year comprehending seventeen steles, ranking among the top ten in the royal family.”
Gou Hanshi said, “I still think this method isn’t feasible.”
Chen Changsheng asked seriously, “Why?”
Gou Hanshi replied, “Because the inscriptions on the front mausoleum’s Heavenly Book Stele are extremely complex. With clear breezes, bright stars, blazing suns, and gloomy snow, the changes in light and shadow are countless, making it impossible to observe as a whole. An individual’s sample size of observed scenes is too small. Even ignoring that, to find the changes, you’d have to choose a focal point. How do you choose?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said, “By intuition.”
Gou Hanshi said nothing more.
The cottage fell silent again.
The Heavenly Book cannot be interpreted, yet it can be interpreted freely. Just listening, all the methods discussed tonight seemed reasonable.
Different cultivators using different methods—such exchanges held no real meaning.
Qi Jian hesitated for a moment, then asked, “How did you come up with this method?… It’s too heretical.”
Chen Changsheng smiled and said, “Among the ten thousand methods of stele interpretation, I only ask one thing: does it work?”
“Makes sense,” Gou Hanshi said with a smile. “Like the cured meat you made earlier—whether it’s sugared, stir-fried with scallions, or with garlic sprouts, you just ask one thing: does it taste good?”
Then his smile faded, and he looked at Chen Changsheng seriously. “But I suggest you don’t tell others about this.”
Chen Changsheng was startled, then came to his senses.
If he were still that country boy Daoist from Xining Town coming to the capital, no one would care what method he used to interpret the stele. But his identity had changed significantly. In a sense, he was chosen by Li Palace, and many of his actions might be seen by the world as representing the National Religion’s will.
Zhe Xiu, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, looking expressionlessly at the four Li Mountain Sword Sect disciples. “That depends on what you think.”
Gou Hanshi smiled but said nothing. Though he had a gentle temperament, he had his pride.
The group stopped discussing the matter and began washing up, preparing to sleep.
As Chen Changsheng tidied his notes, a thought struck him. He walked to the outer room, handed the notes to Gou Hanshi, and said, “Take a look. This is a snapshot I chose by intuition.”
Gou Hanshi was surprised. Debating was one thing, but showing someone your own interpretation of the inscriptions was another. After a moment’s thought, he took a small booklet from his chest and handed it over, saying, “I’ve been preparing for entering the Heavenly Book Mausoleum for years. This booklet contains some notes I’ve excerpted.”
Chen Changsheng smiled, and Gou Hanshi smiled back. Their eyes met, and suddenly silence fell. The smiles on their faces faded, replaced by expressions of shock.
The youths who had finished washing outside returned to the cottage and saw this scene.
“It should be in the house,” Gou Hanshi said.
Chen Changsheng replied, “It’s not in the bedding. When I took it apart during the day, I didn’t see any notes, not even a scrap of paper.”
Tang Thirty-Six rubbed his wet hair and asked in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
“Xun Mei’s notes,” Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi said in unison.
Then they both turned and began searching the cottage.
(Talking about saved drafts—saved my ass. One chapter today. I’ll go write tomorrow’s chapter now. Five hours on a plane… really… Oh, about yesterday’s game activation codes—I didn’t expect so many replies on WeChat. I’ll ask the game company for more codes. If I get them, I’ll distribute them through WeChat tomorrow.)