First, condense the divine soul and restore consciousness.
Though the void world has no time, as the second divine sword said, time resides in the heart.
It took roughly six days for Zhang Ruochen’s divine soul to coalesce considerably. Though his body remained immobile, he could release the sixth divine sword.
Swish!
The sixth divine sword cleaved open the barrier between the void world and the real world. Instantly, the rules of heaven and earth from the real world, along with faint spiritual qi, poured in.
The sixth divine sword carried Zhang Ruochen’s body back to the real world, and the spatial rift beside them healed.
Hovering above Zhang Ruochen’s body, the sixth divine sword sighed. The situation is dire. Even with the Buddhist ancestor’s sarira protecting you, your physical body is nearly translucent. Only the bones remain unerosed.
Zhang Ruochen slowly opened his eyes, gazed into the endless darkness, and after a long silence said, Injuries to the body, divine soul, and mental strength are not major concerns. They can always be healed. But… alas…
He said no more. Zhang Ruochen continuously drew in the thin spiritual qi of heaven and earth, continuing to condense his divine soul.
This place was clearly still within the Dark Triangle Star Domain, deep in unknown territory. Let alone divine qi or sacred qi of heaven and earth, even ordinary spiritual qi was extremely scarce. It was practically a barren void.
Yet it was still better than the void world.
After an unknown span of time, Zhang Ruochen’s body could finally move. He took out the Seven Stars Imperial Palace, retrieved various pills from within, and continued his recovery.
Three months later, his divine soul reformed, and his body solidified.
But all this was superficial. The wounds to his divine soul and the weakness of his body could not be fully mended in a short time.
From the profound fetus, he retrieved the Scroll of the Six Patriarchs’ Chan Release and entered the scroll, arriving beneath the bodhi tree.
Kong Lanyou and Kong Xuan were both cultivating under the tree. Seeing Zhang Ruochen’s pale face and frail body, they were greatly alarmed and hurried over.
What happened? Why are you so gravely injured?
Kong Lanyou’s eyes were filled with concern and worry. She reached to support him.
Zhang Ruochen stopped her and smiled. The worst is over. No need to worry. Your cousin is now a great god. These injuries will not take my life. Kong Xuan, go to the base of the Heavenly Divine Wood and fetch me plenty of Spring of Life.
Beneath the bodhi tree, Zhang Ruochen gathered some yuan hui-level healing sacred medicines. He then activated the sundial, sat cross-legged on the Mirror Platform, and swiftly entered meditation.
For healing the divine soul and mental strength, the bodhi tree and Mirror Platform would clearly be of great help.
The following days passed in recovery. Gradually, Zhang Ruochen’s divine soul fully reformed, his mental thoughts regathered, and even his body, nourished by various yuan hui sacred medicines and the Spring of Life, regained vigorous blood qi.
Though this had been a great calamity, Zhang Ruochen was delighted to discover that he had completely refined the mental strength divine pill he had previously consumed. Through this misfortune, his mental strength had reached the seventy-seventh order.
This was also the fruit of twenty years of cultivation under the sundial.
However, having lingered too long in the void, even the power of the Buddhist ancestor’s sarira had diminished considerably. His physical body’s strength was no longer what it once was.
Kong Lanyou approached, but the powerful divine might radiating from Zhang Ruochen pressed her back. She could only stand at a distance, a faint sense of loss rising in her heart.
Though she had reformed her immortal sacred body and reached the Great Saint realm once more, and though her cultivation aptitude was outstanding, she still fell far short of the universe’s foremost geniuses.
Compared to her cousin, the gap was even greater.
From now on, one would be in the clouds, the other on the earth.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his divine might, stepped down from the Mirror Platform, and called, Lanyou.
Kong Lanyou snapped from her reverie and smiled. Congratulations, cousin. Your injuries are fully healed, and your cultivation has advanced further.
How could Zhang Ruochen miss her thoughts? He walked to her and said, Not bad at all. Your martial dao has entered the demi-god realm.
Kong Lanyou gave a bitter smile. It is all thanks to the Mirror Platform and bodhi tree, plus the countless yuan hui sacred medicines here, forcibly piled up. It is the merit of the Sixth Patriarch.
Do not belittle yourself. Back when the Kunlun Realm’s heavenly rules were incomplete and sacred qi scarce, you still reached such a realm. Your aptitude and resilience of heart are beyond ordinary people. Zhang Ruochen said.
Kong Lanyou replied, If I could temper myself more between life and death, perhaps I could advance further. Otherwise, even if I become a god, reaching upper god would already be the limit. Moreover, crossing the divine tribulation… nine deaths and one life…
Zhang Ruochen had long intended to let Kong Lanyou temper herself on the Starry Sky Battlefield, but many events had intervened, especially in Xinghuan Heaven, where he had incurred widespread enmity.
If Kong Lanyou went to the Starry Sky Battlefield, she would surely be targeted.
That would not be tempering. It would be sending her to death.
Zhang Ruochen said, There are countless great daos in the world. One need not necessarily follow the martial dao. I see your mental strength has advanced extremely quickly. It is now at the sixty-ninth order.
Kong Lanyou’s snow-white hair was touching. She said, In truth, it is also thanks to this special environment that I reached this realm.
The Mirror Platform was formed from the Sixth Patriarch’s eighty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety sarira. It not only turns the surrounding heaven and earth into a Buddhist domain, but also calms the mind and focuses the spirit.
The bodhi tree is even more an extraordinary sage. Whenever I enter a state of clarity, it whispers teachings, as if the Sixth Patriarch himself were lecturing me. Every day, the bodhi light rain falling from the tree purifies mental strength and soul.
In such an environment, let alone me, even a mortal could swiftly transform into a mental strength powerhouse.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and smiled. Why do you underrate yourself so? If you lacked sufficient comprehension on the path of mental strength, how could you hear the bodhi tree’s teachings? Mental strength has bottlenecks. It cannot be raised solely by external conditions. The most important factor is the cultivator himself.
How could Kong Lanyou not feel inferior?
Even the old yellow ox Zhang Ruochen raised had surpassed her in cultivation.
Not to mention Chi Yao and Zhang Ruochen, who were now striding ever further in the divine realm.
Kong Lanyou’s expression turned pensive. Clearly moved by his words, she considered abandoning martial dao to focus solely on mental strength. Perhaps that could open new horizons.
Mental strength cultivation differs greatly from martial dao cultivation.
Martial dao requires pressing forward courageously, tempering the body, refining the heart, comprehending heaven and earth, cultivating divine abilities, forging the divine soul. Every realm demands struggle, against heaven, against others, against oneself.
Mental strength cultivation, however, emphasises accumulation and comprehension.
Like Confucian dao cultivators who enter the dao through painting, they need only advance step by step in the art of painting to break through mental strength bottlenecks one by one.
In fact, all mental strength cultivators must specialise in one path, using that path as their blade to advance steadily towards the supreme realm of the Supreme.
Some use painting as their blade, some arrays, some pill refining…
Zhang Ruochen shared his insights on mental strength with Kong Lanyou.
She asked, What does cousin use as his blade to reach his current mental strength?
Zhang Ruochen considered, then said, All laws of the world can serve as my blade for breaking realms.
Kong Lanyou had been utterly serious, truly invested, dreaming of one day catching up to Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao through mental strength. Yet his answer made her laugh.
Zhang Ruochen had said it deliberately, seeing her growing inferiority and low spirits in recent years. Seeing her laugh lightened his own heart considerably.
Meditate further. Think carefully about which path to take if you cultivate mental strength. I will go out and look around.
Suddenly recalling something, Zhang Ruochen added, Do not let the Sixth Patriarch influence you into cultivating the Buddhist dao.
What if one cultivates the Buddhist dao and enters the empty gate? Kong Lanyou asked.
Those who cultivate Buddhism must sever worldly ties and cut off emotions. Then you would no longer be my cousin. Master Lanyou!
By the time these words drifted back, Zhang Ruochen had already left the Scroll of the Six Patriarchs’ Chan Release and arrived in the dark, icy, utterly empty void. The smile had vanished from his face.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and released his mental strength, extending it outwards until it probed millions of li away.
Nothing.
Next, he used the Heart of Truth to sense the profound meanings of truth.
Even if he was lost in the Dark Triangle Star Domain, Shang Hong surely was not. If he could find Shang Hong, he could find the way out.
But he sensed no fluctuations at all.
Have I drifted so far?
Zhang Ruochen’s brow furrowed tightly. An intangible fear rose unbidden in his heart, as though the entire universe had been destroyed, leaving only him alive.
That loneliness and emptiness made one shudder.
Unwilling to accept it, Zhang Ruochen took out the sword seal, held it, and carefully sensed.
After a long while, he sighed deeply and put the sword seal away.
This is big trouble! Zhang Ruochen sighed again.
Returning to the scroll, he told Kong Lanyou the current situation.
For some reason, she showed no tension. Instead, a gleam appeared in her eyes.
But she quickly cleared away that inexplicable joy, for she knew her cousin would never be content to spend the rest of his life in the scroll world.
He had come to the Dark Triangle Star Domain for important matters.
If he was unhappy, what right did she have to feel joy?
Kong Lanyou broke the silence. I have thought of what to use to assault the divine realm of mental strength!
Knowing his mood had affected her, Zhang Ruochen forced a smile. What?
Kong Lanyou drew out a bamboo flute. In the past, the First Confucian Ancestor entered the dao through the qin and became the ancestor of Confucian dao. His mental strength reached unfathomable heights. In the eight hundred years apart from cousin, Lanyou has always been accompanied by flute music. Though I dare not claim transcendence or sainthood, I have gained some insights. Perhaps I can break through the dao with this.
If it is music, I do have some small insights. It accompanied me through my lowest and most difficult decades.
Zhang Ruochen took out the wooden clapper and struck it lightly. Instantly, lingering echoes travelled far, resonating with heaven and earth.
In music, Zhang Ruochen’s attainment was not particularly remarkable. Back then, the reason he moved the Mistress of the Nether Flower to take him as master was because he borrowed the power of the Wuji Divine Dao, causing heaven and earth to resonate and creating a startling effect.
At that time, though Taiji had not yet evolved, Wuji had always existed.
Zhang Ruochen could not instruct Kong Lanyou in music, but he wished to impart the flavour of the Wuji Divine Dao to her. If she could comprehend even a fraction, it would benefit her mental strength cultivation immeasurably.
In the divine realm, why had his mental strength advanced so quickly?
The Wuji Divine Dao was precisely his blade for breaking realms.
If Kong Lanyou could truly grasp the Wuji Divine Dao, Zhang Ruochen would give her the Heart of the Divine Tree, mental strength divine pills, the Buddhist ancestor’s sarira, the divine hearts of great gods… everything.
Even former enemies like Xue Tu and Lian Xi had received much from him.
Towards Kong Lanyou, Zhang Ruochen would naturally be utterly unstinting. He wished to give her the very best of everything he possessed, so long as it helped her.
After all, she had a cousin reputed to be richer than even Immeasurable realm gods.
