Chapter Twenty-Three: This Body Was Always a Bodhi Seed

The breakthrough Shen Lian experienced was one that the overwhelming majority of cultivators in this world must one day face.

Even certain great scholars of the mortal world, after decades of cultivating character and nurturing qi, may suddenly attain insight one day and burst into a long howl whose sound carries for miles.

Such a cry, unending and deep, is no less resonant than the winds and waters that naturally move through heaven and earth.

Even those outside could see that above Shen Lian’s room, the primal energies of heaven and earth had condensed into a spirit mist, lingering for a long while like smoke and clouds.

The commotion of that howl shook every corner of Clear Breeze Peak. Chen Jianmei was the first to appear in the air before Shen Lian’s room, sword light surging to the sky and severing the world within from the world without.

Yan Bugui appeared soon after as well. The newly admitted disciples in the lower court, who had arrived in waves over the past half year, all saw such a spectacle and assumed some senior brother had made a breakthrough.

They looked on with envy, only to draw nearer and discover that this dreadful display actually came from Shen Lian’s room, which left them even more stunned.

Though Shen Lian had supposedly traversed the Heart-Testing Road in an exceptionally short time and had gained some fame even among the people of the upper court, for some reason no elder had taken him as a disciple. He had been left to grope his way alone through cultivation, and had even skipped the elders’ lectures held once every two months. Very few had ever truly seen him in person.

Others could not guess his true level of cultivation. The disciples admitted to the lower court by the Clear Essence Sect’s founding of the mountain were all under twenty years of age, and even if one was gifted beyond compare, one could not yet be too formidable.

But in this place, with primal energy gathering into clouds and mist, such a display was already, in their eyes, something unfathomably profound.

Chen Jianmei and Yan Bugui were both somewhat surprised. After all, in the long history of Clear Essence, there had not been a lack of even more dazzling figures, prodigies who refined the Mystic Gate Aperture at a younger age than Shen Lian. The Mystic Gate Aperture is the key to unifying spirit and qi. Only at this stage does one’s spiritual energy condense into power, capable of nourishing the soul and unleashing the arts of the dao.

Only at this step can one truly be said to have laid the foundation of the Great Dao and to have completed the first true stage.

At the same time, once power has been formed, the choice of technique must be made with utmost caution, for once a path is chosen, it becomes extremely difficult to turn back, and doing so is rarely worth the cost.

Shen Lian’s remarkable feat was that, upon reaching this threshold, he could already mobilize such a vast quantity of primal energy.

The amount of energy one can draw upon is certainly related to one’s technique and the capacity of one’s meridians, but it also requires a strong soul, lest one try to bear a thousand catties with the body of an infant and finally be worn to death.

From the density of primal energy they witnessed, even a cultivator in the Out-of-Body realm would likely find it difficult to create such a spectacle.

Of course, Shen Lian could not yet be judged by ordinary standards, for he had first refined the spirit and only afterward cultivated qi.

The long howl gradually faded.

Shen Lian was entirely unaware of the scene outside. Primal energy poured in torrents into his body; not all of it was absorbed, yet all of it was drawn toward him.

Sitting cross-legged, he only felt his entire body become much lighter, his heart neither sorrowful nor elated.

Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared within his body. That was the Mystic Gate Aperture, roaming through the meridians. Wherever the vortex passed, primal energy, inner energy, and soul power intertwined. The true qi within him, like rivers and streams, and the energy of heaven and earth, together with his own soul power, seemed to produce a wondrous reaction.

It grew ever more condensed, becoming a strange force somewhere between soul power and inner energy.

When all his true qi had transformed, the whirlpool disappeared as well. Some of that strange force traveled along the meridians to the place where the spirit platform lay, where it met Shen Lian’s soul and settled upon it like dew.

Shen Lian felt as though his soul were being purified and washed, clear as a bright mirror swept free of dust.

He suddenly thought of a verse, and when he opened his eyes, the primal energy of heaven and earth gradually dispersed. In a slow, resonant chant he recited:

The body is the bodhi tree,
the heart is the bright mirror stand;
each day diligently wipe it clean,
lest dust should gather.

Only then did he finally understand the profound meaning behind the Dao Lord’s establishment of the nine realms of cultivation. After the stirring of the apertures and the formation of the Mystic Gate Aperture, inner energy would merge with the soul power that seeped from the body, forming a new and special energy. This energy could absorb primal energy and grow endlessly stronger, while also acting directly upon the soul, purifying one’s thoughts and at the same time strengthening the soul. For this reason, this realm was called Nurturing the Soul.

Not every cultivator possessed the Supreme Clear Spirit Treasure Natural Soul-Sealing and Spirit-Settling True Explanation, which could directly devour one’s own fleshly essence and even inner energy to strengthen the soul.

And if one wished to enter a dream and devour another’s soul-thoughts to grow stronger, setting aside the fact that such a method belonged to the evil path, one would still need a stroke of chance to leave the body without first reaching the Out-of-Body realm.

Moreover, the soul-thoughts found in dreams are inherently tangled and impure; after devouring them, the gains scarcely outweigh the losses.

Thus Nurturing the Soul was an immensely important path of cultivation. Only by following it could the soul be steadily strengthened, until one could finally break free of the fleshly body and send the yin soul out of the body.

So between Nurturing the Soul and Out-of-Body, there was in truth no difficult barrier; it was mostly a matter of natural progression.

One could also say that Shen Lian had always been in the Nurturing the Soul realm, only that, unlike nourishment through power, it was his blood vitality that was being devoured by the soul.

*****

A day and a night passed after Shen Lian’s strange phenomenon appeared. The curious onlookers had long since dispersed, leaving only Chen Jianmei behind. When Shen Lian finished his cultivation, he also withdrew the sword light.

In a low voice, Chen Jianmei said, “A fine line: ‘Each day diligently wipe it clean, lest dust should gather.’”

He had heard every word of Shen Lian’s leisurely chanting from within the room.

Murmuring to himself, unheard by anyone, he then departed quietly.

The next day, Shen Lian was taken away by Young Attendant Jingqing, summoned by the sect master.

This time, when Shen Lian saw Zhang Ruoxu, he could not help being startled once more.

Zhang Ruoxu had become noticeably younger again. His black hair hung loose, his brows and eyes were refined and handsome; if he walked among mortals, he would be a famed and elegant gentleman.

Zhang Ruoxu paid no mind to Shen Lian’s reaction. He merely looked him over and gave a slight nod.

Shen Lian was puzzled and asked, “Sect Master, for what reason have you summoned me?”

“Flying Immortal Isle in the South Sea was once a lineage left in the mortal world by an elder of our Clear Essence Sect. Recently, a monster has appeared near it, one that specifically hunts young boys and girls. None of the cultivators on the isle can match it, so you will have to go down the mountain and subdue it,” Zhang Ruoxu said slowly.

Though these lineages scattered through the mortal world are not formally recognized, they still carry old ties of incense and devotion. Moreover, Clear Essence is declining now; if even we dare not deal with such monsters, then the face of our thousand-year heritage will be utterly lost. How, then, could we still speak of being the orthodox sect of the mysterious gates?

There was reason in sending Shen Lian. He had entered the sect not long ago, so even if he failed, it would not be a disgrace. If he succeeded, then the next time the Spirit Platform Dao Assembly was held, he would have standing as well.

“Yes, Sect Master,” Shen Lian answered without the slightest hesitation.

He did not ask whether he could deal with it. If Zhang Ruoxu thought he was incapable of the task, he would not have sent him.

Zhang Ruoxu continued, “Since your Mystic Gate Aperture is already open, you must indeed choose the fundamental Dao art to build upon. But this matter requires caution; it is not too late to decide after you return.”

Shen Lian had only just broken through, and in truth he needed time to settle and breathe. Measures of tension and release are the proper law of cultivation.

P.S. Many thanks to Lantern-Hidden Man for the generous reward of 1,888, to Time Turning Into Floating Foam for 1,176, and to Book Friends 160303091255366, Little Cat, Fox of Purple Heaven, Countless #, Swapped Posts, Swordsman Floating Cloud, Village Chief No. 1, Ann, and Flashing Shadow Demon Mark for their support.