Starting Cultivation During a Trip

The crowd, upon seeing the shadow, retreated backward, maintaining a distance, a deep fear evident in their eyes.

"Second Master, that shadow is strange, anyone who approaches it will have their primordial spirit destroyed. We’ve already lost troops," someone whispered softly into Zhang Tian Sheng’s ear.

"Leaving a shadow while facing a wall, it truly is the realm of Pure Yang Wuji." Zhang Tian Sheng looked at the corpses strewn across the ground and couldn’t help but softly sigh.

"Pure Yang Wuji, with a single thought, the world turns over and over, thus leaving this shadow behind."

At just that moment, a sinister voice came from behind.

Everyone turned to see an elderly man with a hunched figure standing at the cave entrance, standing behind the crowd.

"Who goes there?" yelled a man dressed in a Daoist robe.

"Old fox, you’re late," Zhang Tian Sheng said calmly without turning his head.

"Zhang the Second, Ailao Mountain is far from here. Just taking the green train took three days and nights, and these old bones of mine are shaken to pieces."

The old man spoke softly, slowly taking off his straw hat, and as he lifted his eyelids, his eyes were jade-green like jewels.

At this moment, everyone was visibly moved, retreating to make way.

The green-eyed fox of Ailao Mountain, known far and wide as a great demon of notorious reputation.

"Is the Ninth Method really hidden in there? If not, it’s not worth taking such a big risk."

The green-eyed fox moved beside Zhang Tian Sheng, looked into the depths of the ancient cave, and then at the shadow on the wall, with deep caution etched on his elderly face.

"Beixuan Zhenren, penetrating celestial secrets, in his later years studied the Nine Techniques and the Eight Kings Carrying Coffin Painting. I’m certain, even if the Ninth Method isn’t inside, there are extremely important clues." Zhang Tian Sheng spoke with absolute conviction.

He, along with Xu the Sixth, raided how many ancient tombs and Daoist mausoleums to find this place, and couldn’t possibly leave empty-handed.

"Then let’s begin."

The green-eyed fox’s eyes moved slightly, looking at the shadow left on the wall.

"Zhang the Second, this entity can break a primordial spirit, what do you think it is?" the green-eyed fox asked suddenly, not in a hurry to make a move.

"Many methods exist in this world to restrain and destroy a primordial spirit, yet inherently a primordial spirit fears only two things," Zhang Tian Sheng replied coolly.

"Thoughts and the Three Corpses!" the green-eyed fox interjected.

"Thoughts are quite interesting. The Ancestral Master said all things are creations of the mind, the mind is the thought..." Zhang Tian Sheng spoke in a firm tone.

"Even the world we see arises from thoughts."

The green-eyed fox raised his eyebrows, knowing that Zhang Tian Sheng referred to the Ancestral Master, the founder of Dragon Tiger Mountain and the Daoist Sect, the Ancestral Celestial Master Zhang Daoling.

This was truly a figure of great monumental influence throughout history.

"The world arising from thoughts, isn’t that too idealistic?" the green-eyed fox murmured.

"Idealism?" Zhang Tian Sheng laughed, "Old fox, you, a great demon living long in the deep mountains, repeatedly speaking of idealism..."

Saying this, Zhang Tian Sheng shook his head, changing the subject, "I heard from our Third that Western science conducted an experiment called the double-slit interference experiment..."

"What do you mean?" the green-eyed fox said, as if hearing a celestial book.

"The conclusion is that micro-entities, when observed, act as particles, and when not observed, act as superimposed waves..." Zhang Tian Sheng explained casually.

Just a single act of observation produces vastly different results, why is that?

All actions follow thoughts, thought arises then conditions emerge.

"This means thoughts can influence or even form matter."

What Zhang Tian Sheng said left the crowd in a state of confusion, even the green-eyed fox was silent.

"The Ancestral Master mentioned that perhaps a primordial spirit is also a kind of thought."

"Hmm!?"

This statement caused the crowd to change their color suddenly; such talk overthrew their knowledge and surpassed their comprehension.

It was widely known that thoughts were the initial tribulation of the primordial spirit, how could they be one and the same?

"The same carbon element can form different materials, like coal or diamond..." Zhang Tian Sheng elaborated.

"If you consider thoughts as steam, then the primordial spirit is ice formed solidly, as clear as glass, eternally unwavering..."

"Steam can melt the ice, thus thoughts are a primordial spirit’s great tribulation..."

"But conversely, steam can become part of the ice, strengthening it, yet in this vast world, only one Technique can achieve this..."

"The world’s fiercest, Divine Demon Holy Embryo!" the green-eyed fox’s eyes slightly darkened, uttering those words.

He had to admit, the insights of the Ancestral Celestial Master indeed opened up a new vista, as if they had opened an unprecedented door.

"Worthy to be a disciple of South Zhang, Dragon Tiger Orthodox Sect indeed."

The green-eyed Fox looked at Zhang Tian Sheng, revealing an expression of envy. Merely by virtue of such an identity, merely by virtue of such a surname, it was a height that many people could never reach in their lifetime.

"What are the Three Corpses?" the green-eyed Fox suddenly asked.

"Beixuan Zhenren has comprehended the Three Corpses Illuminating Fate, and the Three Corpses are hidden within everyone’s body." Zhang Tian Sheng shifted the conversation, but did not reply directly.

"In my view, this shadow can reflect the Three Corpses within the human body, thus triggering tribulations, causing death by the Three Corpses."

"It’s not thoughts, but the Three Corpses," the green-eyed Fox mused and then nodded.

"Then it will be easy enough."

While speaking, he took out an oil lamp from his bosom. It was withered and mottled, with traces of rust and bloodstains, having evidently weathered countless ages.

"This thing indeed ended up in Ailao Mountain." Upon seeing the withered lamp, Zhang Tian Sheng’s face changed slightly, clearly recognizing it.

The lamp seemed to have a significant origin.

"Heh heh..."

The green-eyed Fox let out a cold laugh, his eyes glimmering as if veiled by mist, as if the brilliance was being taken away. Right after, the withered lamp lit up, and its dim light fell upon everyone, slowly dissipating their shadows.

"Let’s go..." the green-eyed Fox said, holding the oil lamp as he walked ahead.

"But..." someone hesitated.

"This is what’s called ’darkness beneath the lamp’, able to conceal the Three Corpses, an ancient Daoist sect’s means to avoid disaster," the green-eyed Fox replied without turning back.

Zhang Tian Sheng said nothing more and walked behind the green-eyed Fox, and the others followed suit, all passing through the shadow on the wall.

At this moment, the green-eyed Fox slightly shook the oil lamp in his hand, and its dim light passed from the body of the one who had just questioned.

Buzz...

The next instant, that person fell to the ground with a thud, their Primordial Spirit collapsing, transforming into tiny starlights, absorbed by the shadow on the wall.

"Heh heh..."

The green-eyed Fox chuckled softly, under the dim candlelight, his face gradually twisted to resemble that of a fox.

Buzz...

Light and shadow flickered and changed constantly, Zhang Fan’s mind flowing with the light and shadow.

Finally, another scene emerged.

In front of the ancient stone gate, corpses lay across the ground. The green-eyed Fox leaned against the wall, his breath weak. His eyes had long been useless, leaving only two black holes; his lower body, like withered wood, had begun to weather.

"It really is the place where a Zhenren retreats... this is the Five Elements Mistaken King’s method..." said the green-eyed Fox feebly.

"Zhang the Second, from here you’ll have to walk forward alone, give me a swift end."

The expression on the green-eyed Fox’s face showed no joy or sorrow. Such a Great Demon had long seen life and death lightly, with Yin and Yang unified, there was nothing left to fear.

Buzz...

Zhang Tian Sheng’s expression darkened; he said nothing more, flicked his fingers, and sent out a black flame that ignited the green-eyed Fox, and the raging fire instantly engulfed him.

"Pure Yang... Pure Yang... how many Seekers of Immortality through the ages, and how many have achieved Pure Yang?"

The green-eyed Fox laughed aloud, seeming frenzied, seeming sorrowful, seeming helpless, seeming to accept his fate with a ghostly serenity.

"Pure Yang!"

Zhang Tian Sheng turned around, murmuring softly, drawing a deep breath, and slowly pushed open the stone gate before him.

He knew that perhaps the clues to the Ninth Method were hidden inside.

A cold wind blew through, stirring the dust suspended in the air, as if reviving time isolated for millennia.

At the entrance, an ancient stone tablet caught the eye, with two lines engraved upon it:

"Fox lights withered lamp, Tian Sheng enters this gate."

Seeing this, Zhang Tian Sheng could not help but reveal a look of shock.

"Pure Yang Zhenren, a prophecy in a single sentence, truly grasping the Celestial Secret of future generations." Zhang Tian Sheng stood solemnly in reverence.

At this moment, he felt more certain that clues to the Ninth Method must be hidden here.

He continued straight ahead, and in the deepest part, a Divine Platform emerged, candles in front of it blazing brightly, enduring for a thousand years. The dim light illuminated the scattered dust, forming a path of light that made the inscriptions on the sacred tablet atop the Divine Platform appear laden with the weight of ages.

Zhang Tian Sheng’s mind wavered. He had not thought that this deepest part of the cave would actually be enshrining a sacred tablet, waiting across the span of a millennia, as if it was meant for someone destined like him.

Yet on that sacred tablet, there were only four large characters engraved:

"Who can see the Technique?" Zhang Tian Sheng murmured softly.