The next morning, after waking up, Qin Yi hurried early to the large courtyard in the west of the village.
Once again, it was Elder Huang who opened the door for him. Although Elder Huang welcomed him in, he said:
"In the future, you only need to come before breakfast. There is no need to arrive this early."
"Why? Isn't it better if I come earlier?"
"The Young Master hasn't woken up yet. If you come this early, you can only wait."
"Ah?" Qin Yi exclaimed.
He immediately thought about the Young Master's illness.
When he recalled the Young Master's clothing and his habit of basking in the sun, Qin Yi vaguely understood that the illness might make him extremely afraid of the cold and fond of sunlight.
Qin Yi wanted to ask about the Young Master's condition out of concern. However, he only opened his mouth slightly and did not ask.
Even without trying, he could guess that inquiring about the Young Master's illness would certainly be a taboo.
"Alright, Grandpa Huang. I'll come before breakfast from now on. That way I can also help my mother with some housework."
After leading Qin Yi to the small courtyard from yesterday, Elder Huang prepared a cup of Nourishing Essence Soup for him.
Elder Huang asked Qin Yi to wait, but he was waiting for the Young Master, not for breakfast.
"Thank you, Grandpa Huang."
After drinking the soup, Qin Yi went to the sandy ground. Seeing that Elder Huang had no intention of assigning him any tasks, he began writing the more than fifty characters he had learned yesterday.
While writing, he also continued to contemplate those characters.
Perhaps because he had just started learning them, every time he reflected on them, he gained new insights.
For example, the character for Heaven.
Qin Yi wondered why the ancients used a single vertical stroke to represent Heaven.
He guessed that for the ancients, Heaven was something infinitely high, so they used a vertical line to represent the endlessly lofty sky.
Correspondingly, the Earth, for the ancients, was infinitely vast, so they used a horizontal line to represent the boundless land.
These short horizontal and vertical strokes were merely limited by the space of writing, but what they expressed contained endless room for imagination.
Looking at the character for Human, it appeared like a person bowing.
But if one split it apart, the upper part seemed like a slanted line that inevitably connected Heaven and Earth, while the lower part resembled a Heaven being pressed down.
Connecting Heaven and Earth, dominating the world.
This character for Human was truly full of arrogance and ambition.
Then there was the character "Shàng" (丄), representing the world of the living, and "Xià" (丅), representing the world of the dead.
One meant "Heaven above, Earth below," while the other meant "Heaven below, Earth above."
How vivid.
And the character "Ten" (十), which symbolized the complete world formed by the fusion of the worlds of the living and the dead, was defined as the world of humans.
Wasn't this clearly expressing humanity's determination to be supreme over both realms of life and death?
Elder Huang noticed that starting from the second round, Qin Yi would write one character and then stare blankly for quite a long time.
Feeling puzzled, he could not help but observe him more closely.
At that moment, Qin Xu walked out. Seeing Qin Yi in a daze, he glanced at Elder Huang.
Elder Huang immediately whispered his observation to the Young Master.
Qin Xu was slightly stunned. He walked to stand directly opposite Qin Yi and simply watched him quietly without interrupting.
Only when Qin Yi finally regained his senses and prepared to write the next character did Qin Xu speak.
"Datou, why do you stare blankly for so long after writing a single character?"
Only then did Qin Yi notice that the Young Master had arrived at some unknown time and was standing opposite him.
He quickly bowed.
Afraid that the Young Master might think he was being lazy, he hurriedly explained.
"Young Master, it's like this…"
Qin Yi immediately told him all the insights he had just discovered.
After hearing it, Qin Xu remained stunned for quite a long time.
Heaven, Earth, and Human were the three most basic characters.
Because many later characters contained them, people used them so frequently when analyzing words that they gradually took them for granted, subconsciously ignoring their original meanings.
It was like learning addition and subtraction but never thinking about why 1 + 1 = 2.
Listening to Qin Yi's interpretation of the characters Heaven, Earth, and Human, Qin Xu suddenly felt his thoughts surge like waves, gaining countless realizations.
The fur coat on his body began to move without wind.
Dust on the ground centered around Qin Xu and suddenly surged outward like an explosion, forming a wave of energy.
Seeing this, Elder Huang immediately realized something was wrong.
In a flash, he appeared before Qin Yi, grabbed him, and instantly dashed a hundred meters away to the marshland west of the courtyard.
Qin Yi only felt his vision darken for a moment.
Suddenly his body was lifted, followed by the sound of rushing wind. When he regained his senses, he discovered that he was being carried by Elder Huang, and beneath them was a marsh.
Even though it was clearly water, Elder Huang stood on its surface as if walking on flat ground, without the slightest sign of sinking.
Incredible.
His speed was lightning-fast, and he could even stand on water without sinking.
Every time Qin Yi witnessed the power of martial artists, it dazzled him and filled him with yearning.
"Grandpa Huang, what just happened?"
He regained his senses this quickly?
This child's spiritual insight was truly extraordinary.
Elder Huang had already sighed about this countless times in his heart.
He looked at Qin Yi with surprise before replying:
"The Young Master has entered a state of enlightenment. His martial will rose uncontrollably, and his aura underwent a qualitative change. You were too close. If you had been struck by the shockwave, you might not have been able to endure it and would have fainted."
"I see…"
Enlightenment.
Qin Yi fell into thought.
It seemed that his earlier explanation had brought great benefit to the Young Master.
"The Young Master's illness?" Qin Yi asked with concern.
For the first time, Elder Huang showed a visible change in expression before Qin Yi. With a faint smile, he said:
"It is very beneficial for the Young Master's injury."
Injury?
Not illness?
Of course.
At the Young Master's level, how could he possibly fall ill?
He could only have been injured.
Sensing that Qin Xu's aura had already withdrawn and that his enlightenment had ended, Elder Huang lifted Qin Yi again and lightly leaped back.
His figure drifted like a willow leaf returning to the courtyard.
It felt strange.
There seemed to be no gravity, yet there was no pushing force either. Qin Yi could feel enormous resistance from the air, yet their speed was extremely fast.
It felt… like sliding down a slide.
The sensation was extremely contradictory and bizarre.
Was such a thing even possible for a person without using tools?
Qin Yi felt that even if Newton were struck on the head by countless apples in this world, he still wouldn't be able to explain this phenomenon.
Elder Huang placed Qin Yi back on the sandy ground opposite the Young Master and then quietly left.
Qin Yi realized he had returned to his original position.
Looking back, Elder Huang had also returned to where he originally stood.
It was as if nothing had happened.
"The Great Dao is ultimately simple."
When Qin Xu finally came back to his senses and opened his eyes, the way he looked at Qin Yi was filled with complicated emotions.
This child's spiritual insight was truly exceptional.
On only the second day of learning characters, he had already taught Qin Xu a profound lesson.
Qin Yi had given him a completely new understanding of Heaven, Earth, and Human, even causing his martial will to undergo a transformation.
The surprises this child brought him were simply too many.
Originally, Qin Xu had planned to teach him as quickly as possible according to the limits of his talent.
After all, he did not have much time left…
However, after this moment of enlightenment, he changed his mind.
"You've eaten breakfast already, right? Then let's begin today's lesson."
"Today I'll teach you numbers."
"Zero, one, two, three, four."
"Five, six, seven, eight, nine."
"Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred million."
(End of Chapter)