Chapter 170: Yarn Theory
Yan Ping spent the next few days teaching Anji personally. The child was an excellent student with a keen mind who could keep up with her. Yan Ping never participated in most academic meetings because researchers of the Mystical Qilin Sect lacked a basic foundation. No matter how profound their research topics were, the sect master always thought they had a shaky foundation in cultivation. Not even the senior researchers truly understood the essence of cultivation. It was frustrating.
Unlike the others, Anji’s young age did not deter her from understanding the darker side of life. When Yan Ping first met her, Anji already knew what death was. Despite the meaningless struggle, Anji still did her best to live fully in her limited time. In a way, Yan Ping thought Anji was already more insightful about the way of life than scholars in her sect. It was partially why she insisted on Anji becoming her successor.
After a few years, Yan Ping marvelled at how truly talented her disciple was. Although physically lacking, her mind was more brilliant than anyone else in the sect.
"...that was how I thought borrowing the concept of the Five Elements could relate to combining medicine and cultivation. It’s like weaving the same thread into different clothes. Everything originates from the same fabric if we unravel the clothes into their base material. From there, we can determine applications for similar knowledge in different fields. Senior Researcher Mo told me to journal it and create a name to apply this theory because nobody has a book about it. However, I’ve never written a book before. Writing about the Yarn Theory is difficult because it can be applied in so many different ways."
Six years old. Anji was only six. Yan Ping had to admit that she had never seen a more monstrous talent in this world. What Yan Ping took over 150 years to understand, Anji understood at the age of six. The ’Yarn Theory’ that her disciple developed was similar to the teachings the previous sect leader imparted to Yan Ping. However, Anji’s understanding was much deeper. Yan Ping could only apply parts of the original teaching to cultivation and research in specific fields. However, Anji could apply it in new areas, not even the half-sage considered. Yet, the concept was frighteningly easy to understand. It was as if the solution had been underneath their noses the whole time, but nobody had noticed it.
"Did you come up with the Yarn Theory all by yourself?" Yan Ping asked, sitting her student down. She needed a drink, preferably strong tea.
Anji hesitated. Although it was a thought that came to her, she could not claim credit for the idea completely. If not for the many opportunities that the Celestial Dragon and Mystical Qilin Sects had given to her and the unusual constitution she was born with, Anji might never have understood the Yarn Theory. Grandpa Jin had a huge hand shaping it as well. Without a universal understanding of life and transient existence, Anji would never have seen the invisible thread connecting all life forms and the true nature of fate.
"No, shifu. Anji had help from everyone to understand the true nature of the yarn theory," Anji humbly explained.
Currently, the Yarn Theory that Anji talked about was only good as a framework. It suggested how everything was in a constant state of transformation, born from the same roots. When the state of a ’thread’ interacts, merges, or breaks, evolution is triggered. Although Anji had not figured out how to calculate the course of evolution and trace it back to its origin, she understood that soul cultivation was a way to improve at Yarn Theory. Seeing things from a different plane of existence, especially when becoming a Sage is only the first step to understanding existence, solidified Anji’s belief that Yarn Theory should become the foundation for all cultivation practice and included into a way of living.