Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

Chen Zhuo took the jade tube, lost in thought.

He has already mastered "Battle" at level 2, "Sun" at level 2, and "Stone" has just broken through to level 3.

If the literary techniques related to the character "群" are applied to these already mastered literary techniques, the benefits will be considerable.

Song Zhiyuan sat back down in his chair, his tone becoming more casual:

"There's one more thing. You've been studying quite a few literary arts lately, including those related to the sun, moon, war, speed, and stone."

Adding to that the 'group' concept that I'm about to learn, the total already exceeds the upper limit of what a normal person can master before becoming a scholar.

Chen Zhuo nodded, waiting for his master to continue.

This information wasn't particularly important, and I often talked about it with Song Zhiyuan, so it wasn't surprising that he knew it.

"I see you're not very worried about this matter, so I won't ask why. Everyone has their own secrets."

Just one thing to remind you: the advantage of mastering multiple arts is tactical flexibility, but the disadvantage is that mastering each art requires a lot of practical experience.

Your current 'Stone' skill is already highly developed, and you are proficient in 'War' and 'Sun', but 'Moon' and 'Speed' are still at the basic level.

Like a vehicle with four wheels, if one wheel is too large, it can travel swiftly on a smooth road, but once the terrain changes, its weakness will be exposed.

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuo stroked his chin.

Senior Sister Gu Qing'e said something similar, but Song Zhiyuan put it more specifically.

Not only should one learn a wide range of skills, but one should also improve one's proficiency in existing literary and technical skills in a balanced way.

The long night continues, and there will be plenty of opportunities for real-world practice to come.

Therefore, in the upcoming shifts of defending the city, he planned to consciously use "moon" and "fast" in actual combat.

These two literary skills are rarely used in normal times, so the pressure of defensive battles will give us a chance to hone our proficiency.

"Thank you for the reminder, Master. There is one more thing I would like to ask you."

Chen Zhuo looked up at Song Zhiyuan, who nodded slightly in return.

"Yesterday, during the Qing Shi gathering, when the resonance of the heaven and earth's written characters was triggered, for a moment, this disciple felt that the meaning of the character 'stone' seemed to exceed the upper limit of a single written technique."

"In that space of words, the faint outline of another word appeared, but it vanished in an instant."

"At that time, I judged that my own accumulation was not enough to support the two-character literary technique, so I broke it up."

"Looking back, is this 'extra meaning' something that arises every time resonance is triggered, or does it only appear under specific circumstances?"

After listening, Song Zhiyuan did not answer immediately. Instead, he poured half a cup of fresh tea from the teapot and pushed it in front of Chen Zhuo.

Then he stretched out his hand, and a faint blue aura appeared at his fingertips, writing two characters in the air: "Guard" and "Protect".

Two characters floated side by side in mid-air between the two people; both were characters that Chen Zhuo recognized.

However, the characters are more archaic than usual handwritten characters, clearly indicating that it is a literary art with a different effect than normal.

Then he lightly traced a line between the two words with his finger.

The two characters slowly approached each other, their strokes drawing together in the gaps, but they never truly joined together.

The character "守" (shǒu) in Chinese has a defensive connotation, while "护" (hù) in Chinese has a protective connotation. Both characters belong to the defensive category and have similar meanings, so they can be combined to form "守护" (shǒu hù).

However, this connection merely links the two spells together; they remain independent techniques.

As Song Zhiyuan spoke, he drew another line with his finger in the gap, "You should have already noticed it when you combined 'sun' and 'moon'."

They are independent of each other, but they find a connection point when switching.

This is a combination, not a fusion.

The true two-character literary art is not a connection between two literary arts, but a new literary art.

For example, "mountains and rivers."

He rewrote two words on the other side.

These two characters are closer together, and their strokes intertwine when written.

As the last stroke fell, the two characters simultaneously dispersed in mid-air, transforming into a faint ripple that gently stirred the morning light outside the window.

"Mountains and rivers" is not "mountain" plus "river".

It is an independent literary system, possessing its own unique imprint of the world and its written language.

It's a single release, not two consecutive connections.

The "extra meaning" you encountered yesterday.

At this point, Song Zhiyuan paused and pointed to Chen Zhuo's chest.

Chen Zhuo felt the "stone" script within his body tremble slightly.

"It doesn't resonate every time."

This resonance will only occur when you delve deep enough into the meaning of a particular literary work.

It's like mining for minerals and suddenly discovering that there's more than one vein, with another, deeper vein faintly emanating from it.

The "firmness" you felt yesterday is this kind of situation.

In your understanding, the character "石" (stone) is not only used for defense, but you also understand it as bearing, carrying, and persevering.

Some of these implications already touch upon the realm of the word "firmness." Therefore, during the resonance, the characters of heaven and earth automatically brought it out.

Song Zhiyuan withdrew his hand, and the writing in the air disappeared.

"You were right not to force it out."

Two-character literary arts are usually attempted only after one has reached the level of a scholar (xiucai), accumulated sufficient literary talent, and gained a deeper understanding of the techniques.

Your intuitive judgment at the time, such as the lack of accumulation or the possibility of losing control if forced to consolidate, was correct.

But that doesn't mean you should give up. The seed of perseverance has already been planted within you.

Once you have accumulated enough spiritual energy to support the release of a complete two-character incantation, and your understanding of the technique is more solid, you can try to pull it out again.

That was a natural progression, not a desperate gamble.

After listening, Chen Zhuo remained silent for a few moments, then stood up and bowed solemnly.

"Disciple understands, thank you for your guidance, Master."

Song Zhiyuan leaned back in his chair and picked up the now-cold tea again.

"Go ahead. Go back and think about it slowly; there's no need to rush."

……

After leaving Yangzhengzhai, Chen Zhuo did not immediately return to the Chen residence.

He walked along the corridor of the Academy of Arts for a while and stopped by the stone tablet in front of the Tibetan Library.

The stone tablet was still the same stone tablet; at first glance, it looked no different.

However, upon closer examination with a literary aura, it can be discovered that only eight of the characters representing heaven and earth are still emitting light.

He still remembers the first time he stood here.

At that time, he couldn't even write the character "日" properly. Gu Qing'e counted on her fingers and lowered the standard from three characters to two. Song Zhiyuan observed from the shadows and said, "Old Chen is not an honest man."

He now holds the bamboo slips of the "Qunzi Jue" in his hand.

He carried a crystal core engraved with the character "启" and two source stones in his arms.

The list of literary works on the panel is already quite long.

The writing level remained steadily at 35 points.

He suddenly remembered what Song Zhiyuan had just said: "The advantage of mastering multiple literary arts is that it makes one more tactically flexible, but the disadvantage is that mastering each literary art requires a lot of practical experience to hone."

That's true, but Chen Zhuo wasn't too worried about it.

The existence of the panel and equipment slots is his greatest asset.