Chapter 94

Lu Zheng naturally saw the extremely dangerous bend early on, but he remained calm, even less focused and tense than before. He did not make any move, allowing the carriage to rush forward quickly. Just as the three horses in front were about to rush into the dangerous bend and the small stream, suddenly, with a crisp sound, the long whip arrived early, striking the left side of the three horses. It turned out that Lu Zheng had been closely watching the hooves of the three leading horses, waiting until now to make his move!

The three horses, struck by the whip, immediately neighed and changed direction. Lu Zheng then forcefully pulled the reins, reining in the two central horses, and swiftly lashed the whip twice, almost simultaneously, striking the white horse on the far left of the front row and the black horse on the far right of the back row. The whip landed with great force. The two horses, in pain, simultaneously burst forward with their strongest force. Under the impact of these two forces, the carriage was actually thrown into the air.

Lu Zheng was also thrown into the air with the carriage, but he did not panic at all. He let out a deep voice and lashed the whip several times in the air, pushing the six horses to their maximum speed. At the same time, he tightened the reins, adjusting the direction of the two central yellow horses. As the six horses exerted their strength under Lu Zheng's control, the carriage was directly dragged through the bend in mid-air, landing with a thud on the road ahead, continuing to move forward. Soon, it had passed all the bends.

Xin'er finally let out a sigh of relief, slowly loosening her tightly clenched hands. A sharp pain made her realize that her hands were deeply indented by her fingernails, and her lips were also a bit sore, as she had bitten her lower lip in tension without realizing it.

Mr. Yue, standing beside her, let out a heartfelt exclamation: "Seizing the opportunity, wonderful!"

After Lu Zheng returned to the starting point, the third test began. The stream disappeared, and a large number of stone pillars suddenly emerged on the ground, covering the road. This test was called the "Path in Chaos." Its difficulty lay in finding the correct road amidst the chaotic stone pillars, and in moving forward and backward without touching the pillars. It tested Lu Zheng's precise judgment in choosing the road and his ability to maneuver the carriage in a narrow space. Lu Zheng stood on the carriage, took a brief look, and then rushed into the array of stone pillars, passing through effortlessly.

The next two tests were the fourth, "Music and Dance," and the fifth, "Pursuit." "Music and Dance" did not involve any special terrain; it was simply about driving the carriage on a flat surface, focusing on the smoothness of the carriage's turns and rotations, making the carriage exhibit a dance-like feel.

"Pursuit," as the name suggests, required Lu Zheng to drive the carriage to chase prey, driving the prey to one side and forcing it into a corner. Li Yi chose three fawns as the prey for Lu Zheng. Fawns are known for their agility and quickness, and they are naturally timid, fleeing at the slightest sound, making them the most difficult to drive. However, Lu Zheng had a plan. He first made a series of whip sounds to startle the three fawns, making them run around and expend their energy. Then, he drove the carriage with lightning speed, driving the three fawns into a corner.

After completing the five tests, Lu Zheng drove the carriage to the base of the platform, jumped off, and held the long whip in his hand, kneeling on one knee. Mr. Yue was the first to applaud, and Xin'er followed, clapping enthusiastically.

Li Yi walked down from the platform towards Lu Zheng, extending his right hand. The jade square suddenly appeared in his hand. Just as when Lu Zheng had completed the archery ritual, Li Yi placed the jade square on Lu Zheng's head and shouted, "Lu Zhiyi!"

Lu Zheng respectfully responded, "Student is here!"

Li Yi said, "Having controlled the six horses, the five tests are complete. You have learned the charioteering ritual today. I ask you, what is the way of the charioteering ritual?" Unlike the previous time when he directly explained the way of the archery ritual, this time the teacher wanted Lu Zheng to explain the way of the charioteering ritual himself.

Although Lu Zheng was somewhat surprised, he did not panic. During the days of driving the carriage, he had many insights and had already thought about them deeply. He carefully considered and answered, "The way of the charioteering ritual is to know first, then control."

What did Lu Zheng mean by this?

At the beginning of the charioteering ritual, the teacher asked him to tame the white horse. When taming the white horse, Lu Zheng found that the horse did not let him approach. He kept thinking about how to be friends with the white horse. It was only after Mr. Yue inspired him with playing the zither that he thought of this. But he could not figure out how to be friends with a horse.

It was not until he tried countless methods and finally became familiar with the white horse that he realized the method was actually very simple! It was to understand the white horse. The way to understand was to observe, think, and comprehend.

Observation meant observing what kind of horse the white horse was, including everything about the white horse that Lu Zheng could see, such as its appearance, behavior, daily activities, and what it liked to eat. For example, Lu Zheng discovered that the white horse liked to chase butterflies.

Thinking meant pondering what all the white horse's behaviors meant. For example, its love for chasing butterflies indicated playfulness and restlessness. Its frequent disregard for people was because it was the horse king, naturally proud.

Comprehension meant accepting that the white horse was a horse and not treating it with human temper. For example, if the white horse did not want to pay attention to him, he should not keep bothering it. He should not get angry with it but should further observe and think about why it did not want to pay attention to him.

These things sound simple but require great patience and constant attempts. In this process, Lu Zheng even imitated the white horse's movements, and over time, he almost thought he was a horse himself. However, this allowed him to unexpectedly discover the coordinated force of the horse's waist and buttocks, from which he benefited greatly.

Through this constant understanding and closeness, Lu Zheng's actions gradually gained the white horse's recognition, allowing him to get close to it. Lu Zheng believed that the most important thing was to respect the white horse, not to treat it with his own habits and temper, just like playing the zither, where one should not force the zither to follow one's commands but should follow its nature. This is knowing.

However, knowing alone is not enough, as it can only make one close to the white horse but not control it. Just like playing the zither, the zither does not make sounds on its own; it needs someone to play it. The white horse, the king of horses, is naturally free and easy. It goes wherever it wants, whether it is chasing butterflies for fun or smelling fresher grass and water ahead, without a specific purpose. In other words, it needs Lu Zheng to give it a direction. This is controlling, giving the white horse a direction, like infusing one's feelings into the strings of the zither.

The second lesson in the charioteering ritual that the teacher arranged for Lu Zheng was driving the carriage. Whether it was two, four, or six horses, the principles were similar to taming the white horse. However, in addition to understanding the horses' conditions and respecting their habits, driving the carriage required mutual coordination, making horses with different directions ultimately move in the direction given by the driver. In playing the zither, this is the mutual coordination of each string.

This is the principle of knowing first, then controlling, as Lu Zheng stated.

When Lu Zheng said this, Li Yi nodded in satisfaction and said, "Knowing must be with respect, and controlling must be with the way. Lu Zhiyi, do you know the similarities and differences between the archery ritual and the charioteering ritual?"

The teacher had many questions today, asking about the charioteering ritual and then comparing it with the archery ritual.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "The archery ritual focuses on not being scattered or chaotic, emphasizing a focused body, then achieving self-righteousness and arrow-righteousness, making the person and the bow one. The charioteering ritual is the same, aiming to make the person, the horse, and the carriage one. This is the similarity. As for the differences, I believe the archery ritual focuses more on oneself, while the charioteering ritual focuses on controlling others. Moreover, I think the archery ritual and the charioteering ritual complement each other."

Since learning the charioteering ritual, Lu Zheng increasingly felt that driving a carriage required the cooperation of each horse. The most important thing was to understand the temperament and strength of each horse and adjust them accordingly to control the carriage. With this insight, he applied it to archery.

Since learning how to use the buttock muscles from the white horse, Lu Zheng underwent a significant change. He gained a profound understanding of his body. With each arrow he shot, he could clearly feel the force generated from his feet, transmitted through his buttock muscles to his waist, and then from his waist to his hands. Throughout this process, Lu Zheng was relaxed, and he could clearly feel the force passing through his muscles, giving him a clear understanding of his body.

He clearly felt the shape, size, and direction of the muscles in his arms, thighs, waist, and buttocks, and how the twisting of any muscle affected other muscles and how the force was transmitted between them.

Lu Zheng suddenly realized that, just like the six horses he controlled, each muscle in his body also had its own character and temperament! He had always ignored them and not paid attention to their reactions. This was why he often felt soreness after archery.

Previously, when he pulled the bow and shot arrows, he only thought about using force to pull the bow, without considering where the force came from, the extent of the arm's rotation, or how the limbs should coordinate. He simply forced the muscles to work together, which naturally caused some muscles to be strained, leading to soreness. This was similar to how horses would get angry when mistreated.

Thus, with this understanding, Lu Zheng gradually learned to relax his control over his body. He realized that each muscle was like a person with its own temperament and personality, and he could not force them to work. Instead, he had to understand their temper and personality, coordinate and unify them, and work together to achieve the goal. This was the same principle as controlling six horses to pull a carriage.

Lu Zheng even thought about playing the zither. The human body is like a zither, and each muscle is like a string. One needs to understand the tension and changes of each string, grasp the sequence, and play beautiful music. It is not about randomly plucking the strings but about the balance between the person and the zither.

Therefore, from this perspective, his body was like another carriage, which he had not driven well before.

Based on this experience, Lu Zheng's archery naturally improved. As this experience deepened, he found that archery made his mind increasingly calm and clear, which helped him not be easily influenced by the horses' restlessness and other issues when driving the carriage.

Therefore, Lu Zheng felt that the two rituals complemented each other. In short, the archery ritual made him increasingly focused, while the charioteering ritual made him increasingly clear.