Chapter 273 — The Summit of Arithmetic
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Libationer Bashan dumped him at the gate of Six Harmonies Hall and turned on his heel, as though afraid Shen Mu might keep pestering him and drag him into the Celestial Sage Sect.
Shen Mu said sourly, "Sooner or later I will get you in."
The Imperial College of Six Harmonies Hall was presided over by Reverend Hongfa, a woman of great virtue and high repute, a Buddhist nun besides; she had taught and nurtured scholars here since the Grand Academy was first founded.
Shen Mu walked into Six Harmonies Hall. The hour was still early and no scholars had yet come for the lecture, but the reverend was already there, sweeping and wiping until the hall was spotless.
Only when the bell rang and the scholars filed in did Reverend Hongfa begin, unhurried: "Six harmonies -- which six? Heaven, earth, and the four quarters: that is the six harmonies. The Spirit Treasury of the Six Realms lies within our bodies, and to break through its wall you must first fix the position of the Six Harmonies Barrier. And how is that fixed? By calculation. Yesterday I told you to review the arts of the Six Harmonies. Did you review them?"
Shen Mu blinked and looked around the hall. There were a great many scholars attending -- more than thirty -- and among them Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, Si Yunxiang and others.
Then he saw Ban Gongcuo.
Ban Gongcuo was not listening. His eyes were shut; he was trying to batter down his own barrier.
Reverend Hongfa went on, her speech somewhat slow: "A man standing on level ground can easily fix east, west, north, south, above and below -- but inside the human body, how does one fix east, west, north, south, above and below? We use your Primal Embryo Spirit Treasury to fix above and below: the crown of the spirit embryo's head is heaven, and what it stands upon is earth. Once above and below are fixed, we must fix east, west, north and south, and that requires the five luminaries of the Five Luminaries Spirit Treasury to set our bearings."
"You have all studied the Ten Mathematical Classics; the Ten Mathematical Classics serve to fix the five luminaries. And to derive from the five luminaries the points of the compass within the heaven and earth of the heart, one needs the Six Harmonies reckoning. Now let us take up page seventeen of the Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic: the meridian-returns-to-south algorithm."
...
Shen Mu looked this way and that, and suddenly someone poked him in the back with a finger. He turned; it was Si Yunxiang, Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sage Sect, her pearly teeth biting her red lip. "Last night," she whispered, "I saw the Sect Master drag three girls back to his room."
"Nothing of the sort!" Shen Mu denied flatly.
Si Yunxiang murmured, "One of them was the Seventh Princess."
Shen Mu's face flushed. "Holy Maiden, do not slander me and ruin my good name. Lend me your Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic -- it is my first time here and I have no book."
"Is the lecture hall a holy place, that whispering is permitted within it?"
Reverend Hongfa struck the desk and shouted, "You two, out! Stand in the corner!"
Si Yunxiang snatched up the Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic and went out of the hall with Shen Mu. The two leaned against the wall, and she handed him the book, saying with a smile, "The Sect Master is greedy for beauty -- take care you do not end up as Sect Master Li did."
Shen Mu opened the classic. It set out many formulas, methods extended from the Ten Mathematical Classics, for computing the precise bearings of east, west, north and south upon the basis of the five luminaries.
What Reverend Hongfa was lecturing on was page seventeen, the meridian-returns-to-south algorithm, which fixes the south; once south is fixed, east, west and north follow of themselves, and then a single line drawn above and below fixes the most exact position of the Six Harmonies Barrier within the body.