"Sakura-san, can I come in?"

"Hmmm! Come in. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info "I gathered my mind and opened my eyes.

"How?" Bai Suiyun pushed open the door, "There is news from the advance ship, we have already seen Helan Port ahead, and it is expected to arrive in the afternoon, do you want to rest?" ”

"Okay, thanks." I stretched my stiff body a little, "I still have some vague feelings today." ”

I've been on the ship for a week now to learn the Daojutsu. This morning, I was still trying to feel in the secret room as usual. (What does it feel like?) I didn't know, and he didn't tell me.)

"It's only been a week to feel it, Miss Sakura, you're very talented," Bai Suiyun smiled, "I'm not afraid of your jokes, even if I can't see with my eyes, it will take half a year to comprehend by feeling~"

"That's when you were young—"

"Learning Taoism has nothing to do with age." Bai Suiyun continued, "That day, you proposed to learn Taoism, which was very surprising, even if you know the Oriental language, it is definitely not a simple matter to understand our Oriental Dao. But what really surprised me was that when I tested you, you actually knew a little bit about oriental painting. So I just had the idea of trying it to open your eyes - I really didn't expect you to improve so much. ”

"Maybe it has something to do with my mother's Orientalism, right? When I was a kid, she taught me some painting and calligraphy...... But I forgot all about it - may I ask? Bai Gongzi, what do you make me feel? Why just ask me to endorse but not explain? Can you tell me now? ”

Originally, I thought that the study of Taoism was similar to magic, first theoretical knowledge and then practice, but when I started learning, Bai Suiyun only tapped my finger on my eyebrows, and then told me to meditate in the secret room every morning and recite Taoist scriptures in the afternoon. The only thing that taught me was how to empty my mind when I meditated – but I didn't even understand the content of the scriptures. Every time I asked him, he always said, "It's not time yet." ”

"Hmm...... Sakura-san, let's go to the deck. ”

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

"Bai Gongzi, won't you have another exam?" As he walked into the hall, I couldn't help but ask.

"Well, Ding Feng, prepare pen and ink!" Bai Suiyun commanded, and at the same time pointed to the painting on the wall, "Miss Sakura, please go and see that "Picture of Songshan Qingxi" again-don't forget to keep it ethereal when you look at it!" ”

"......" Although I was a little dissatisfied, I obediently walked to the painting.

"Pine Mountain and Green Stream" is a very ordinary painting, with a stream flowing on a mountain full of pine trees, and the pine trees are reflected in the stream. If there is anything special about it, it is an oriental painting, which is composed of black ink of different shades, unlike our paintings, which use colorful pigments.

"Have you finished reading?" After a while, Bai Suiyun said, "The pen and ink are ready, come, please draw a crow." ”

"It's a crow again—what do you want to do, Bai Gongzi? Are you willing to teach me? I muttered disapprement.

If Lacey had been, he would have been impatient to smash the ship, right?

However, if it weren't for Bai Suiyun's humble and polite feeling all the time, I would have wanted to smash it these days.

Really hate his secrecy.

"You'll know when you're done," Bai Suiyun grinned, "Please think about the crow last time, and then draw it with your heart!" ”

"Last time? You didn't even look at the last time I drew it, even though you couldn't see it—ah! I'm sorry! ”

"This is an exam!" Bai Suiyun didn't mind.

“…… Well," I picked up my pen, dipped it in ink, and drew a raven on the paper.

"Painted ready, right? Miss Sakura, this is the crow you drew last time, compare it yourself. ”

Ding Feng handed me the painting.

"Is there a difference?" I muttered as I compared, "It's all drawn by me, it's all crows, isn't it!" Well?! ”

Why?

Why do the two paintings feel so much worse?

I'm not very good at drawing, but why?

Same shape, same black.

It's also my own drawing of a crow, why is it that the last one I drew was just a black bird, but today this one clearly gives me the feeling of a crow?

"Why?" I looked at Bai Suiyun blankly.

"Listening to your tone, it seems that Miss Sakura, you have made great progress!" He smiled happily, "Ding Feng, is Miss Ying qualified?" ”

"Qualified!" Ding Feng stepped forward to take a look and replied.

"Well, Miss Sakura," Bai Suiyun said to me, "congratulations, you have learned the preliminary Tao. ”

"But I didn't ...... anything," I was a little confused.

"First of all, I'm sorry, I haven't said anything in the past week, because I'm afraid you have a preconceived concept - I once said when I explained the Tao last time, Taoism is originally a process for us to find the laws of nature and then follow it, although the basic Tao is fixed, but with everyone's understanding is different, the resulting Taoism is similar, the Tao, in fact, has long been integrated into our oriental life, for example, the painting - it is called "Songshan Qingxi Map", obviously all black, why is it called Qingxi?"

"Because it feels—"

"Yes, through the understanding of the natural scenery, grasping its essence, and painting its meaning instead of its form, we in the East can depict the world with only one shade of color -- this black color that depicts the world is actually the Tao! This process of painting its meaning is Taoism. Got it? ”

"I seem to understand, but I don't seem to understand......" I'm still a little confused.

"Haha, Miss Sakura, take a closer look at your two paintings, the first one should be just a black bird, right? Because at that time, when you read "Songshan Qingxi Tu", you only saw an oriental painting, and did not fully comprehend the artistic conception of the Orient, and your painting today - because you have the feeling of watching "Songshan Qingxi Tu" before, you unconsciously have a distinction between light and heavy when you put down the pen, so today this one is more like a crow, do you say? ”

"Hmm."

"So this proves that you can feel and learn the Tao now, and you have achieved such an achievement in a week, which is amazing!"

"Does this have anything to do with spells or curses? I'm not here to learn how to draw! I couldn't help but be a little anxious, "Can painting help Lacey?" ”

"Ha, Miss Sakura, don't you worry—do you remember the talisman you gave me?"

"Huh?"

"Last time, I said that the pattern of the four corners of that Dao talisman is the Four Holy Beasts that represent our East—but in fact, that pattern is not what the Four Holy Beasts look like."

“？！”

"But when I touched it, I understood that it meant the Four Holy Beasts - why? This is the more unique place of our Dao, because everyone's understanding is different, resulting in everyone's spells, the use of Dao symbols, there are certain differences, but 'human law earth, earth law sky, heaven law Tao, The general rules of Taoism are unchanged, and in the future, your Taoism will only be similar to mine, and it will never be exactly the same, the spells of our Taoism, the reason why we can fight each other and crack each other, is not by relying on the formula of a key to a lock in the West, but by the feeling of everyone after the Taoist norms, that is to say, the same Taoist seal, each Taoist priest's lifting method is not exactly the same, the only thing that is the same is the law of yin and yang and the five elements summarized by the Taoist rules - to put it simply, You can use water to extinguish the fire, you can use gold to produce water first, and then you can use water to extinguish the fire, or you can even turn the fire directly into earth - this is the complexity of Taoism - and the most important thing in Taoism is to be able to feel the Tao, to comprehend the Tao, not only to feel your own Tao, but also to be able to feel the Tao of others! Assuming that Lacey's curse is caused by Taoism, then as long as you can understand the law of its creation, there is a way to remove it! ”

“！ But...... But I haven't learned anything...... Moreover, in this way, not every Taoist priest can help Lacey? If you ......"

"Feeling the Tao is the first step, and what I ask you to recite is the general theory of our Taoism. You have to take it and corroborate it with your own understanding of the world -- we Taoists have a word called "casualness", and we pay attention to the prosperity of the followers, and if the Tao I feel does not intersect with the curse of Lacey, then I will find that I do not understand the key to the curse. Is it you who can feel the law of Lacey's curse, and when can you feel it? Or maybe it's through a Taoist priest you recognize, and then unravel the curse by some chance? It's hard to say that you have now taken the first step towards enlightenment, and now I will teach you the most basic ways to use the Dao, and it is not up to you to know whether you will succeed in the future, whether you will be able to use your own Dao. ”

"Oh...... However, we are about to enter the port, is there enough time? ”

"Haha~ The most critical step, Miss Sakura, you have already crossed it, what I teach below is just some rules of using the Tao, you don't need to get to the bottom of it, as long as you feel that you have understood! Many of our Taoist priests are obviously very good at Taoism, but they don't know how to explain it to their apprentices~"

"Oh......"

End of Chapter 24