Rise of humanity, p.71
Rise of Humanity, page 71
He shut his eyes and cleared his mind of the memories of the Thunderbolts of Nine Heavens that he had once learned; he started a round of visualization on the first moment where the thunderbolt bursts through the clouds; meanwhile, the Sword Qi in between his fingers shifted, it was imbued with the power of his psyche and brandished at the man-sized jade rock, revolving around it like gusts of wind.
He reconstructed the thunderbolt and the twelve thunder totem permutations; slowly, the jade rock in front of him gradually transmuted into the image of the thunderbolt he was visualizing in his mind; it looked like an upended pine tree dangling in the air. The totem carvings were indelibly branded onto the jade rock.
After a long time, Zhong Yue had entirely reconstructed the Thunderbolts of Nine Heavens. As the visualization was completed, the sculpture of a thunderbolt appeared in front of him, evoking the image of an actual thunderbolt that was viciously descending from the nine heavens, it was simply dazzling.
Not only that, but the surface of the thunderbolt jade was also engraved with twelve thunder totem permutations, the totem permutations were fine and potent and within them, was contained the mighty force of thunderous lightning.
“A soul weapon?”
Zhong Yue was startled, his psyche surged into the jade; a sudden burst of blinding lightning emanated from the jade, and a thunderbolt bolted out – Ka-cha! A loud burst could be heard!
“Did I just forge a soul weapon?”
He could not believe his eyes, he had never learned the ways of soul weapon forging and yet, he had just sculpted out a soul weapon!
However, the power imbued in this soul weapon was not very strong, and it was not as nimble when compared to other soul weapons; if activated, it could only release a surge of Spring Thunder Sword Qi.
Not only that, he realized that while he was using his Sword Qi to sculpt the jade, the unyielding will of the thunderbolt was also imbued into the jade!
By jettisoning what he had once learned and revisualizing the insights from nothing, his understandings towards the twelve thunder totem permutations grew more profound; the use and control of the force of thunderous lightnings had gotten stronger and more malleable!
He used to think that he had already gleaned the quintessence of the 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】, thinking that he had developed the 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】 to the peak of its potential power. However, it was only now that he realized that he was quite a ways from perceiving the true essence of the 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】!
Zhong Yue smiled, he decisively relinquished every morsel of knowledge and insight he had gained on the 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】, and started visualizing from scratch. Sword Qis danced on his fingertips and slowly, the twelve sword styles of 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】 manifested in between his fingers. Sword Qis shot out into the air and proceeded to carve twelve jade sculptures, while the process of sculpting resembled the castings of the twelve sword styles of 【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】.
After the twelve sword styles, Zhong Yue did not stop there; he progressed onto the Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art and immediately cast away his previous comprehensions into oblivion and started to reconstruct and revisualize it. The abstruse quintessence of the physique refining art was recreated from his fingertips.
It did not take him long to sculpt eight figures of Jiao Dragons each in different stances. One had its body coiled as if waiting to erupt, another was lying down languidly, one was parading forward boldly, one had its head held high indomitably, and another appeared to be soaring the limits of the skies atop rails of lightning.
He was like an artist lost in a kaleidoscope of insanity, his mind was filled with endless inspirations as he expressed his will into a masterpiece.
All the insights and comprehensions he had arduously accumulated since the start of his journey were completely obliterated to be rebuilt anew. The Xiang Dragon, the 【 Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 ... the essence of his new insights from the revisualization of each of these techniques was distilled into exquisite sculptures, formed with the chisel of his Sword Qi.
Through the process of sculpting, he had learned more of the techniques which he had ostensibly mastered before; more nuances were discovered, and more profound transformations were explored!
No one knew how long it had been, the jade sculptures of different sizes seemed to fill the small space around him. And Zhong Yue was still trying to sculpt out a Sword Gate, it was the carvings of the sword totem he had acquired from the Geng Jin sword token.
This time, his sculpting speed was gradually decreasing, but the sword will be imbued in his Sword Qi was getting stronger; it was the unrestrained will of the sword, a will that detested any constraints or boundaries; the will of a sword that was fearless to the gods; a will that defied the shackles of this heaven and earth. It was the sword’s heart, a Sword Qi that reflected one’s inner heart!
The elderly man gently nodded, he left quietly and praised, ”What an outstanding disciple he is, Old Pu certainly has good insight.”
Zhong Yue’s sculpting speed was getting even slower, and his sword will be getting purer and stronger. He had not slept nor spared a single second for more than ten days, and now, he had finally completed the sculpture of the Sword Gate.
All of a sudden, Zhong Yue had awoken from his enthusiasm, he stared at then Sword Gate upon him, and felt as if he was sanctified, not only were his understandings more thorough towards the things he had learnt, his psyche had never been any purer than now, and his soul and spirit integrated into a more perfect harmony!
Those abstruse principles behind the totem permutations which had hitherto eluded his grasp were all perceived and comprehended through all these sculptures!
And most of all, the control he had towards his Sword Qi was stronger and more nimble, the changes of his Sword Qi was more mutable, and the control of strength grew increasingly fine!
Xin Huo once taught him hiking skills to train his control towards his own strengths, but this sculpting lesson by this elderly man required a finer control at a higher degree!
Unwittingly, this elderly man had taught me how to eliminate the hidden dangers of not going through the Spirit Nurturing level, and taught me so many things; what a strange man, what a peculiar man!
Zhong Yue reclaimed his thoughts, he was overjoyed and felt surprised that the unstable foundation he once had was gradually getting stabilized after going through three simple steps — relinquish, revisualize, sculpt.
Although the reticent elderly man was of few words and did not provide any guidance during their time together, he had undoubtedly allowed Zhong Yue to learn so much!
If I do the same with the Great Sun Totem and the Golden Crow Totem, it will be a great opportunity to unravel their abstrusity! The elderly man’s end goal was to teach me the ways on how to grasp the abstrusity of the spirits!
Rays flashed in his eyes, he picked up a jade, and prepared to sculpt a shining and bright sun.
Chapter 95: Great Sun Prodigious Emanation |
The spirit of the Great Sun Golden Crow contained a nigh incomprehensible profundity; and now, Zhong Yue was presented with another avenue to cultivate it, a path that would allow him to expedite the elucidation of the abstrusities and with an even greater detail than if he was to do it conventionally. This would grant him an easier mastery of the quintessence of the spirit!
In the jade forest, Zhong Yue sat down quietly and pondered deeply for a long time before he started sculpting the Great Sun Totem. The 36 totem permutations of Great Sun Totem were more ethereal and mutable, making them far harder to comprehend; but as he started sculpting, the evanescent nuances that had hitherto always eluded him in his cogitations gradually come to his mind, naturally, he understood them all.
The psyche flowed on the tip of the sword, every line of the totem carvings was like an epically written poem; after a long time, Zhong Yue had sculpted the jade into the sculpture of a scorching sun.
The jade sun was different from the ones people are familiar with, when a man looked at the sun, all he could see was a blinding fireball. The scorching sun he sculpted was not very smooth, instead, it was engraved with totem carvings of the fire, various kinds of Great Sun Totems filled the jade sun’s surface.
Furthermore, when he was sculpting it, the warm white jade transitioned from a muted white to a crimson red!
And when it was completed, the jade sun blazed alight in flames as if it was really a miniature sun!
I’ve sculpted a sun….
Zhong Yue looked at the sculpture he made upon him, the jade was emanating a light and warmth. Looking at it, he seemed to have understood something and all of a sudden, a round sun was slowly rising from within his psyche ocean, the fire blazed merrily and the radiant light shone all over to every corner of his inner mind!
So this is the ‘sun rises from the east sea’, as purported by the ancients….
His heart quivered, The sun rises from the east sea, he used to think that the ancients were talking about the sun rising from the ocean, but he had seen the true sun. Surely, something like that wouldn't rise from the ocean, the true sun was something beyond imagination. Even the planet they were living on would only be like a grain of sand, not to mention the ocean.
Who would’ve known that the ancients were actually referring to the sun that rises from within one’s psyche ocean.
The psyche ocean was made of psyche and the sun in this case was also made of psyche – everything was then coherent when viewed through such a lens.
As the sun rose, Zhong Yue could feel that the blazing fire was starting to refine his body, the scorching sun irradiated his whole psyche ocean; and in his body, the flames of the psyche burned vigorously, smelting away the impurities in his body!
Zhong Yue’s thoughts moved, the sun slowly shifted from above of his psyche ocean all the way along his trachea down to his heart chamber, then to the internal organs and the lower limbs.
The scorching sun shone brightly, as the impurities in his body was purged away bit by bit.
Zhong Yue could tell that immense energy was gushing out from the beast god inner core, his heart palpitated in shock. The immense flow of energy indicated that the relentless eradication of the impurities in his body began to leave a vacuous hole within himself. This, in turn, incited the beast god inner to discharge more energy to compensate for the new hollowness in his body.!
If it were not for the beast god inner core, I’m afraid that I will have to consume tons of medicinal pellets to sustain this kind of refinery! The tempering from the Great Sun Totem is really incredible!
The sun had the same look as the sculpture of the jade sun, it was moving around in his body, gradually smelting away the impurities. Zhong Yue could clearly tell that his fleshly body was steadily growing more formidable and his strength was increasing.
Not only that, but as his psyche flowed into his limbs and bones, he felt as if his body had become the embodiment of a soul weapon itself!
Such a feeling was incredibly intriguing, and his psyche was now able to flow and could gallop all around in his body smoother and more fluent!
The 【Great Sun Prodigious Emanation Art】!
This was the first layer of insight brought to him by the spirit of the Great Sun Golden Crow!
Forming the Great Sun Totem with his psyche and irradiating his whole body to acquire a prodigious body – this was the prodigious emanation from the Great Sun!
I’ve only just touched upon the boundary of the 【Great Sun Prodigious Emanation Art】, there’s still a ways to go to attain the true quintessence.
Zhong Yue continued the sculpting while smelting the impurities at the same time, the sculpture he was now working on was still the scorching sun. In it, there were 36 Great Sun Totem permutations from which he was able to gain a multitude of new insights The Great Sun Totem he engraved had changed and now had a stronger spirituality and became more malleable.
Not long after, a new sculpture of the Great Sun was finished.
The Great Sun in his body changed once again, the tempering it induced upon Zhong Yue was now stronger and more powerful than that from the first Great Sun.
The Sword Qi flitted about his fingertips and the sculptings were restless. For the next fifteen days, all he sculpted was the scorching sun; but every time he completed a sun sculpture, his comprehensions grew more and more complete and holistic. His progress on the 36 Great Sun Totem permutations were stronger and clearer.
The ground around his feet was paved with scorching sculptures, over 80 of them were emanating blazing fires and radiant lights, and there were another few where the energy in them was depleted and their fires were quenched, but more of them were giving off a reticent light and warmth.
The last few sun sculptures were the strongest, waves of blazing heat gushed out from them as if they itched to set the air around ablaze!
Zhong Yue gently closed his eyes, the Sword Qi in his fingers dispersed. He stood there quietly, recalling the moment where he first stepped onto the sun, the otherworldly ambiance brought about by solemn shine of the dazzling sun engendered an indelible shock and awe within him.
All of a sudden, Sword Qi emerged from his fingertip, dancing around in between his fingers and continued to sculpt the jade that was hoisted into the air by his psyche. It chipped away the extraneous pieces of the jade rock. The Sword Qi flowed around, from the top to the bottom and back to the top, weaving about like a dragon or a snake. Sometimes it was strong and sometimes it was gentle; it silently engraved the Great Sun Totem permutations on the jade.
His psyche was distilled into an aureate liquid that followed along the sword tip, quietly flowing into the totem carvings.
After a long time, Zhong Yue gently lifted his hand and the Sword Qi dispersed as the last tract of the Great Sun Totem was finished.
Hong——
As the last carving was completed, the jade sun was immediately ignited and a million rays blasted out. The blazing heat burned the air and turned the surroundings into a scorching inferno!
Without any external impetus, the jade sun rose above the jade forest and entirely irradiated the jade forest, it’s rays were dazzling and the scenery was as if a sun had really risen from the precipice!
Zhong Yue lowered his head, the corner of his mouth upturned into a slight smile. There were light rays emerging in between his brows that were gradually growing increasingly brilliant as if there were truly a sun residing within him.
The sun rises and sets ... the samsara of the great sun. This is the quintessence of the【 Great Sun Prodigious Emmanation Art】 !
He lifted his head up and released a stunning whistle, a scorching sun suddenly emerged from his glabella and hovered behind his head like a halo as if he were a sun saint. It rose from his left hand to the top of his head and then sets down to the right, gradually moving to his lower abdomen before finally returning to his left hand.
The cycle of the sun and its radiant rays ... wherever the rays of the sun shone, Zhong Yue’s skin and muscles would turn transparent, revealing the entire assembly of his veins, tendons, joints and bones!
The emanation of the sun, the samsara of the sunrise and a sunset, the continuous interplay between the twilight and the dawn. The sun unrelentingly illuminated his body and shone brightly onto every corner of his body.
“The Great Sun Prodigious Emanation, the scorching fire setting the filth ablaze, warding off all evils and obstructing all devils. What an impeccable physique-refining art!”
Suddenly, an old and hoarse voice praised from behind. Zhong Yue quickly turned back to see the white-haired elderly man. He had returned back to the jade forest and he walked towards Zhong Yue.
Zhong Yue quickly bowed and said, “Senior, you are overpraising, if it were not for you have guided me, I’m afraid that my cultivated would’ve been heavily thwarted by the hidden flaws left behind from the Spirit Nurturing stage. I would never know how long would’ve taken me to practice the Great Sun Prodigious Emanation to this stage.”
The air around the white-haired elderly man was filled with death and cadaverous oblivion, he smiled and said, “You may just call me as the old man, a man that is on the edge of his life doesn’t have to abide to such trivial customs. The Great Sun Prodigious Emanation refines the physique and strengthens the body, with the Yuan Shen as the astral body and your physical body as the mortal body. Continue to practice and refine your physique, and the benefits you will reap will be limitless. Oh yes, have you felt like your body had become like a soul weapon?”
Zhong Yue nodded, “For a moment back there, I’ve felt like as if my body was the soul weapon.”
“This is the advantage of a physique refiner.”
The old man stroked his beard and said, “During my midlife, I’ve traveled all around, and met many weird and peculiar people; some of them were the physique refiners, but they don’t call themselves Qi Practitioners, rather, they call themselves Martial Masters. I’ve had the fortune of interacting with one of them once in the past, and we have learned so much from each other. The knowledge and ways they have are truly inspiring.”
“Martial Masters?”
Zhong Yue’s heart palpitated, he asked, “Are there really people that concentrate on martial arts rather than Qi cultivation? Can be they as strong as the Qi Practitioners?”
“Martial Masters and Qi Practitioners, they are both separate paths of cultivation, one isn’t inherently more superior to the other. Martial Masters do indeed cultivate the Qi, but that’s not their focus, their primary endeavor is in the refinement of the mortal body.”
The old man said indifferently, “The Qi Practitioners train the astral body, which is also known as the atman or Yuan Shen, they seek for eternity with their Yuan Shen. While the Martial Masters temper with the body or more specifically, the mortal body; they seek for the immortality of their mortal body. The Martial Masters think that the atman only liberates from the body to go through samsara, and at the end of the cycle, it will return back to the transcended mortal body, and hence, achieve eternal life. But the Qi Practitioner postulate that the mortal body will ultimately disintegrate, whereas an atman that had attained eternity may last until the end of time. Because of this conflict between these two schools of thought, I’ve fought countless times with the Martial Master I’ve met during my midlife, and through the discussions, I’ve come to understand quite a few nuances of the Martial Masters.”
