Shen Lian released his spiritual consciousness to scan the wooden house but detected nothing. Perhaps it had been quite a bit of time, even the Dao meaning that Grandmaster Qingshui left behind was nowhere to be found.
He walked out of the house and noticed the wood of the wooden house was as muddy as limestone and there was no texture to it. If it was not for the Qi of the wood, he would have thought the house was made of rock.
But what was so special about this wood? He could not be dismantling it to forge alchemy with it.
A light breeze swept past and Shen Lian's body was swept up to the sky, about thousands of feet above the ground. He felt a strong suppressing force preventing him from taking action.
The suppressing force was not exactly hard but it was more like a cotton that would absorb every inch of the power that he tried to release.
Shen Lian paused in mid-air and he was holding a longsword in his hand. The tip of the longsword fluttered as he drew out the locus of the abstruse.
This was the Qing Xuan's supreme swordcraft known as One Sword to Break the Void. Once a person mastered it, they would be qualified to attain the path of heavenly immortal and transcend beyond the mortal world. Even if Shen Lian had yet to reach that level, he could use it at the outside world and send tremors down to the void. As a result, the void started to crack.
However, even if the Boundless Universe crumbled, it would not reveal the gap to escape this space. This was because the outer worlds was indeed a real space that had several dimensions stacked up layer by layer. When one void crumbled, there would be countless more voids available and it did not really affect the Boundless Universe.
Shen Lian came to that realization after several attempts. As he goes deeper into the state, he gained a different perspective on things. This is because when someone started to see things from different angles, they would be able to flawlessly understand a situation fully from all aspects. Perhaps only someone of the level of a Dao Master, Buddha, or even no existence could do something like that.
Shen Lian's One Sword to Break the Void was only capable of damaging a thin layer of skin of the Boundless Universe. However, he firmly believed that an independent space like this would be somewhat affected by his supreme swordcraft.
The tip of the longsword touched the sky and the force of the flutter felt like the ripple as a result of tossing a stone into calm sea water. But the ripple caused a recoil effect on Shen Lian and caused him to fall from the void and was mercilessly tossed into the mud. As he was landing, he tried to discharge his power the ground but that caused him to drill through the earth and sunk downwards.
He knew that the skies were beyond his reach and wanted to find out what was down below the ground. He made a large hole and then used the force of the earth to drill through underground.
Shen Lian felt a sudden sense of great danger and then realized that the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind were raging not far away from him. His body may not be able to withstand it if he dug deeper.
Ten days later, Shen Lian has attempted all sorts of means to escape from this space but none of it worked.
It was as if he was trapped in a box where he could not tell the changes in time.
He could only estimate the days based on his Qi and state of blood.
Shen Lian has decided to stop fighting back and started to control his emotions and calm his mind.
He began to enjoy the sweet fragrance of the plum flower as he observed the fallen petals that turned into fertilizers for the soil. He could hear the sound of the roots absorbing the water from the soil and he noticed the growth of the plum tree.
Every fallen flower was the beginning of a new life.
It reminded him of a line in a poem that goes, 'Fallen flowers were not heartless creatures, they turned into spring soil to protect the flowers.'
Life and death had always been a part of the karmic cycle. They were of different sides of the coin and inseparable. Just like the life cycle of a plant, they bloomed and the seeds fall into the soil, the seeds then absorbed the nutrients of the fallen flowers to bud, grow and bloom.
To heaven and earth, all life did not end with death. It only took on a different form.
But to Shen Lian, there were differences after all.
People seek for immortality was not purely to prolong their life. The plum tree would still bloom even if a flower has fallen. But it would never be the same flower again.
He did not want to miss out on the present just because looking to the future.
Shen Lian came to that realization while meditating. He did not even notice that he was sitting under the plum tree that had the poem on the back of the tree:
"Master Chongyang of Difei, people call him Lunatic Wang.
When he came into the world, he nurtures the sun and moon; after he leaves the world, he will entrust himself to the west and east, and roam freely.
He makes himself a companion with the clouds and streams; he makes himself a neighbor with the empty void.
His single numinous Real Nature exists; it is not the same as the mind of the masses."
The writing traces of the poem was not deep as it did not have the intention to invade the Dharma of nature.
Over time, it faded and its existence would eventually be forgotten.
Shen Lian was not bothered by this and he did not even remember the poem behind him. He just leaned against the plum tree and silently meditated.
It was exactly like Buddha who gained enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree.
He could not match Buddha, but neither was Buddha him. He was Shen Lian.
His strong spirit flown throughout his body, into his flesh and blood like a raging river.
The spirit eventually started flowing outwards as shadows started to appear near him.
The shadows had a different outfit form him and too, had a different body shape.
His eyes remained shut but he could see everything crystal clear.
These shadows vanished as it came and each of it represented his past. In fact, some of the shadows were the dreams that he once had or even the intentions he had in a certain moment.
These were all him, but also not him.
Shen Lian had a natural understanding that this was, in fact, Xuwang. When his mind was at ease, these thoughts would start flashing. Who knew that he would be able to knock on the Changshen Door under such circumstances.
All he needed to do was be cleared of Xuwang and he would be able to see his true self.
He needed to get rid of all the fake and retained the true side of him.
This shadow could sense that Shen Lian was trying to destroy them and came like a strong stream of water. They trapped him and it felt like he would be stuck in the mundane secular mortal world forever.
Shen Lian's spirit condensed as he used the Deity Vanquishing Sword. He pierced through and destroyed the shadows one by one with the sword but every move took a toll on him.
He felt that his spirit was getting more refined as if he was cleaning the dirt on the bier in attempt to cleanse himself.
As he was about to destroy all shadows, the last shadow was the innate god that he has always visualized, it was the innate god of the handsome and tough young man.
The sword gleam smashed as he started to feel agitated. A thought flashed through his mind, "If these are Xuwang, then what am I?"
The moment he had that thought, the wonderful state of mind he was in then shattered into pieces. He vomited blood and was wide awake.
The shadows had disappeared but Shen Lian was frightened. He had yet to find his true self and yet he attempted to break through Xuwang. How would he know if the Xuwang that he tried to destroy was actually his true self?
Zhuang Zhou had a dream; soon he awoke and there he was, veritably himself again. He was unsure if he was then a man dreaming he was a butterfly, or whether he was now a butterfly dreaming that he was a man, or maybe he was neither.
Shen Lian was so close to stepping on the path of no return. If he had stabbed through that last shadow, he would have annihilated himself.
If it was not for the innate god, Shen Lian could have been traumatized or even fall into a state of unconsciousness for several decades.
Now that he had missed out on that state of mind, he would not know when will the next Xuwang come by.
He laughed bitterly. People said that one would gain from your mistakes and his biggest reward this time was to escape death.
Shen Lian also realized a terrifying reality. The innate god that he visualize was not part of his self-consciousness and yet it popped up at the crucial point and helped him escape.
Also at the same time, the old Daoist who was traveling with Rouxi let out an "Oh" and turned to Ruoxi, "Your uncle is really interesting. He was able to wake up at the most critical moment."
He left a hint of spiritual consciousness at the space and was able to track every move Shen Lian made. He could not see the innate god but felt that Shen Lian's power of perception was extremely high.
His plan was to wake Shen Lian up with the spiritual consciousness after Shen Lian hit rock bottom.
He never expected Shen Lian to outperform his expectations by waking up when breaking through Xuwang. He was deeply impressed.
Ruoxi said, "Grandpa, what happened to my uncle?"
The old Daoist laughed, "It wasn't anything bad."
Ruoxi was respectful and fearful of the old man. She wanted him to tell her more about her uncle but she knew that old Daoist was way beyond his uncle's level and she had no means of forcing him. Instead, she asked, "Where are we headed to?"
The old Daoist answered in a soft voice, "It's been a while since I came out, so we're just going to roam around. By the way, do you want to learn how to produce the white flame just like what I did the other day?"
Rupxi looked up and said, "That flame was impressive. Is it something that I am capable of learning?"
The old Daoist laughed out loud, "It might be hard for others but it would be easy peasy for you."
Ruoxi responded, "Then I'll learn!"
The old Daoist smiled, "It's so easy for you to say yes."
Ruoxi thought to herself, "After mastering this, uncle would be less worried about me and I can also help him."
She could not hide her intentions from the old Daoist but he did not burst her bubble.
The two of them traveled leisurely and the old Daoist did intend to teach Ruoxi the True Samadhi Fire and passed on an incantation to her.
The old Daoist's supernatural power was way beyond Ruoxi's imagination. She thought Shen Lian's flying speed was extremely fast but compared to the old Daoist, Shen Lian's speed felt more like crawling.
She observed the position of the stars and deduced that they have traveled at least ten of thousands of miles away from Qing Xuan.
But she was not sure where were they headed too. The atmosphere seemed misty and confusing as she could not distinguish directions.
Ruoxi did not know that they were at a very dangerous place known as the Sea of Confusion. It was so deadly that several immortal Zhenrens got lost and took them over hundreds of years to come out from this mayhem.
On top of that, the Sea of Confusion was cut off from the Tianhua Continent and Yuan Continent, making it difficult for cultivators to come by.
The old Daoist ignited the True Samadhi Fire to chase away the fog. Thanks to him, Ruoxi was able to look far ahead but all she could see was nothingness.
The old Daoist had to slow down at the Sea of Confusion.
At one point, the fog started rolling and Ruoxi could hear roaring sounds. A figure stepping on a giant beast appeared.
Shen Lian released his spiritual consciousness to scan the wooden house but detected nothing. Perhaps it had been quite a bit of time, even the Dao meaning that Grandmaster Qingshui left behind was nowhere to be found.
He walked out of the house and noticed the wood of the wooden house was as muddy as limestone and there was no texture to it. If it was not for the Qi of the wood, he would have thought the house was made of rock.
But what was so special about this wood? He could not be dismantling it to forge alchemy with it.
A light breeze swept past and Shen Lian's body was swept up to the sky, about thousands of feet above the ground. He felt a strong suppressing force preventing him from taking action.
The suppressing force was not exactly hard but it was more like a cotton that would absorb every inch of the power that he tried to release.
Shen Lian paused in mid-air and he was holding a longsword in his hand. The tip of the longsword fluttered as he drew out the locus of the abstruse.
This was the Qing Xuan's supreme swordcraft known as One Sword to Break the Void. Once a person mastered it, they would be qualified to attain the path of heavenly immortal and transcend beyond the mortal world. Even if Shen Lian had yet to reach that level, he could use it at the outside world and send tremors down to the void. As a result, the void started to crack.
However, even if the Boundless Universe crumbled, it would not reveal the gap to escape this space. This was because the outer worlds was indeed a real space that had several dimensions stacked up layer by layer. When one void crumbled, there would be countless more voids available and it did not really affect the Boundless Universe.
Shen Lian came to that realization after several attempts. As he goes deeper into the state, he gained a different perspective on things. This is because when someone started to see things from different angles, they would be able to flawlessly understand a situation fully from all aspects. Perhaps only someone of the level of a Dao Master, Buddha, or even no existence could do something like that.
Shen Lian's One Sword to Break the Void was only capable of damaging a thin layer of skin of the Boundless Universe. However, he firmly believed that an independent space like this would be somewhat affected by his supreme swordcraft.
The tip of the longsword touched the sky and the force of the flutter felt like the ripple as a result of tossing a stone into calm sea water. But the ripple caused a recoil effect on Shen Lian and caused him to fall from the void and was mercilessly tossed into the mud. As he was landing, he tried to discharge his power the ground but that caused him to drill through the earth and sunk downwards.
He knew that the skies were beyond his reach and wanted to find out what was down below the ground. He made a large hole and then used the force of the earth to drill through underground.
Shen Lian felt a sudden sense of great danger and then realized that the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind were raging not far away from him. His body may not be able to withstand it if he dug deeper.
Ten days later, Shen Lian has attempted all sorts of means to escape from this space but none of it worked.
It was as if he was trapped in a box where he could not tell the changes in time.
He could only estimate the days based on his Qi and state of blood.
Shen Lian has decided to stop fighting back and started to control his emotions and calm his mind.
He began to enjoy the sweet fragrance of the plum flower as he observed the fallen petals that turned into fertilizers for the soil. He could hear the sound of the roots absorbing the water from the soil and he noticed the growth of the plum tree.
Every fallen flower was the beginning of a new life.
It reminded him of a line in a poem that goes, 'Fallen flowers were not heartless creatures, they turned into spring soil to protect the flowers.'
Life and death had always been a part of the karmic cycle. They were of different sides of the coin and inseparable. Just like the life cycle of a plant, they bloomed and the seeds fall into the soil, the seeds then absorbed the nutrients of the fallen flowers to bud, grow and bloom.
To heaven and earth, all life did not end with death. It only took on a different form.
But to Shen Lian, there were differences after all.
People seek for immortality was not purely to prolong their life. The plum tree would still bloom even if a flower has fallen. But it would never be the same flower again.
He did not want to miss out on the present just because looking to the future.
Shen Lian came to that realization while meditating. He did not even notice that he was sitting under the plum tree that had the poem on the back of the tree:
"Master Chongyang of Difei, people call him Lunatic Wang.
When he came into the world, he nurtures the sun and moon; after he leaves the world, he will entrust himself to the west and east, and roam freely.
He makes himself a companion with the clouds and streams; he makes himself a neighbor with the empty void.
His single numinous Real Nature exists; it is not the same as the mind of the masses."
The writing traces of the poem was not deep as it did not have the intention to invade the Dharma of nature.
Over time, it faded and its existence would eventually be forgotten.
Shen Lian was not bothered by this and he did not even remember the poem behind him. He just leaned against the plum tree and silently meditated.
It was exactly like Buddha who gained enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree.
He could not match Buddha, but neither was Buddha him. He was Shen Lian.
His strong spirit flown throughout his body, into his flesh and blood like a raging river.
The spirit eventually started flowing outwards as shadows started to appear near him.
The shadows had a different outfit form him and too, had a different body shape.
His eyes remained shut but he could see everything crystal clear.
These shadows vanished as it came and each of it represented his past. In fact, some of the shadows were the dreams that he once had or even the intentions he had in a certain moment.
These were all him, but also not him.
Shen Lian had a natural understanding that this was, in fact, Xuwang. When his mind was at ease, these thoughts would start flashing. Who knew that he would be able to knock on the Changshen Door under such circumstances.
All he needed to do was be cleared of Xuwang and he would be able to see his true self.
He needed to get rid of all the fake and retained the true side of him.
This shadow could sense that Shen Lian was trying to destroy them and came like a strong stream of water. They trapped him and it felt like he would be stuck in the mundane secular mortal world forever.
Shen Lian's spirit condensed as he used the Deity Vanquishing Sword. He pierced through and destroyed the shadows one by one with the sword but every move took a toll on him.
He felt that his spirit was getting more refined as if he was cleaning the dirt on the bier in attempt to cleanse himself.
As he was about to destroy all shadows, the last shadow was the innate god that he has always visualized, it was the innate god of the handsome and tough young man.
The sword gleam smashed as he started to feel agitated. A thought flashed through his mind, "If these are Xuwang, then what am I?"
The moment he had that thought, the wonderful state of mind he was in then shattered into pieces. He vomited blood and was wide awake.
The shadows had disappeared but Shen Lian was frightened. He had yet to find his true self and yet he attempted to break through Xuwang. How would he know if the Xuwang that he tried to destroy was actually his true self?
Zhuang Zhou had a dream; soon he awoke and there he was, veritably himself again. He was unsure if he was then a man dreaming he was a butterfly, or whether he was now a butterfly dreaming that he was a man, or maybe he was neither.
Shen Lian was so close to stepping on the path of no return. If he had stabbed through that last shadow, he would have annihilated himself.
If it was not for the innate god, Shen Lian could have been traumatized or even fall into a state of unconsciousness for several decades.
Now that he had missed out on that state of mind, he would not know when will the next Xuwang come by.
He laughed bitterly. People said that one would gain from your mistakes and his biggest reward this time was to escape death.
Shen Lian also realized a terrifying reality. The innate god that he visualize was not part of his self-consciousness and yet it popped up at the crucial point and helped him escape.
Also at the same time, the old Daoist who was traveling with Rouxi let out an "Oh" and turned to Ruoxi, "Your uncle is really interesting. He was able to wake up at the most critical moment."
He left a hint of spiritual consciousness at the space and was able to track every move Shen Lian made. He could not see the innate god but felt that Shen Lian's power of perception was extremely high.
His plan was to wake Shen Lian up with the spiritual consciousness after Shen Lian hit rock bottom.
He never expected Shen Lian to outperform his expectations by waking up when breaking through Xuwang. He was deeply impressed.
Ruoxi said, "Grandpa, what happened to my uncle?"
The old Daoist laughed, "It wasn't anything bad."
Ruoxi was respectful and fearful of the old man. She wanted him to tell her more about her uncle but she knew that old Daoist was way beyond his uncle's level and she had no means of forcing him. Instead, she asked, "Where are we headed to?"
The old Daoist answered in a soft voice, "It's been a while since I came out, so we're just going to roam around. By the way, do you want to learn how to produce the white flame just like what I did the other day?"
Rupxi looked up and said, "That flame was impressive. Is it something that I am capable of learning?"
The old Daoist laughed out loud, "It might be hard for others but it would be easy peasy for you."
Ruoxi responded, "Then I'll learn!"
The old Daoist smiled, "It's so easy for you to say yes."
Ruoxi thought to herself, "After mastering this, uncle would be less worried about me and I can also help him."
She could not hide her intentions from the old Daoist but he did not burst her bubble.
The two of them traveled leisurely and the old Daoist did intend to teach Ruoxi the True Samadhi Fire and passed on an incantation to her.
The old Daoist's supernatural power was way beyond Ruoxi's imagination. She thought Shen Lian's flying speed was extremely fast but compared to the old Daoist, Shen Lian's speed felt more like crawling.
She observed the position of the stars and deduced that they have traveled at least ten of thousands of miles away from Qing Xuan.
But she was not sure where were they headed too. The atmosphere seemed misty and confusing as she could not distinguish directions.
Ruoxi did not know that they were at a very dangerous place known as the Sea of Confusion. It was so deadly that several immortal Zhenrens got lost and took them over hundreds of years to come out from this mayhem.
On top of that, the Sea of Confusion was cut off from the Tianhua Continent and Yuan Continent, making it difficult for cultivators to come by.
The old Daoist ignited the True Samadhi Fire to chase away the fog. Thanks to him, Ruoxi was able to look far ahead but all she could see was nothingness.
The old Daoist had to slow down at the Sea of Confusion.
At one point, the fog started rolling and Ruoxi could hear roaring sounds. A figure stepping on a giant beast appeared.
