Segala perjamuan di kolong langit pasti akan berakhir.
Ketika semuanya akhirnya mereda, bagian dari kesadaran Ding Songyan yang sebelumnya ditarik keluar untuk menatap tubuhnya sendiri kembali ke wadah raganya. Bagian itu diselimuti oleh Kekacauan yang redup dan samar, yang menutupi wajahnya.
Semangatnya secara alami memancar ke luar, tetapi ditarik kembali oleh tarikan kekacauannya sendiri, kesadaran itu berhenti pada jarak lima puluh kaki—sebuah jangkauan yang jelas lebih kecil dari yang seharusnya.
Di luar batas itu, dia hanya bisa mengandalkan matanya untuk melihat, telinganya untuk mendengar, dan hidungnya untuk mencium.
Inilah kelemahan yang dibawa oleh karakteristik Kekacauan. Namun dalam jarak lima puluh kaki, bekerja sama dengan bukaan eksternalnya, pemahaman Ding Songyan terhadap lingkungan, kemampuannya untuk memengaruhi dan mengubahnya, bahkan kekuatannya untuk membuat hal yang tak berwujud menjadi nyata—semuanya mendekati tingkat yang pernah dicapainya dengan memanfaatkan kekuatan langit dan bumi melalui Hati Surgawi. Itu seharusnya melampaui sebagian besar Grandmaster Alam Dharma.
Mengesampingkan dorongan untuk menjelajah lebih jauh, Ding Songyan pertama-tama mengalihkan perhatiannya ke dalam untuk memeriksa kondisinya saat ini.
Dia mengirim semangatnya melewati bukaan leluhur, memantapkan kesadarannya di dantian, membiarkan qi mengalir ke seluruh tubuhnya, dan perlahan-lahan sampai pada serangkaian penilaian yang tidak presisi tetapi nyata.
Ini seharusnya dihitung sebagai Alam Dharma yang sempurna. Namun, seperti yang kuduga, sisa-sisa Kekacauan ini jelas tidak mencukupi. Paling cepat tiga tahun dan paling lambat lima tahun, kekuatannya akan memudar, dan alamnya pun akan ikut menyusut. Aku harus merampungkan jalur bela diri yang bersesuaian sebelum saat itu tiba untuk mengokohkan alam dan kekuatanku, menjadikannya benar-benar milikku...
Bagian milik iblis wanita itu tentu saja sudah lebih dari cukup. Bahkan mungkin sedikit berlebihan. Meskipun sedikit kelebihan tidak membawa perbedaan nyata, aku tetap berharap itu memberinya masalah—sesuatu yang membuatnya tidak bisa mengejarku selama tiga hingga lima tahun ke depan...
Tubuhku telah dikuatkan dan diubah oleh Kekacauan. Semua bukaan yang menjadi milik susunan tubuh manusia telah berhasil mengkristal. Ini adalah perubahan nyata yang bertahan lama. Perubahan itu akan tetap ada bahkan jika kekuatanku memudar sekarang. Aku akan tetap mempertahankan Alam Manusia yang sempurna...
Yang tidak permanen adalah bukaan non-manusia, meridian aberasi, organ non-manusia, dan bukaan eksternal, yang semuanya dipadatkan secara paksa oleh kekuatan Kekacauan. Jika aku tidak dapat merumuskan metode kultivasi untuk menstabilkannya, bukaan-bukaan itu akan perlahan-lahan buyar dalam tiga hingga lima tahun...
Jika dilihat dari sudut pandang ini, bahkan jika teknik penyegelan titik akupunktur memang ada di dunia ini, teknik itu tidak akan terlalu kuat. Bagaimanapun, mulai dari Alam Perluasan Agung ke atas, garis keturunan bela diri yang berbeda menghasilkan para petarung dengan bukaan dan meridian yang berbeda pula. Menyegel titik akupunktur manusia yang sama oleh karena itu akan menghasilkan efek yang berbeda pada orang yang berbeda...
Dan benar saja, seperti yang kutanyakan sebelumnya... Apa yang terjadi ketika bukaan yang relevan berada di luar tubuh? Jawabannya tentu melibatkan kondensasi bukaan di dalam kekosongan. Garis pemisah antara Alam Dharma dan Alam Perluasan Agung adalah kemampuan untuk menjelajahi ruang di sekitar diri sendiri dengan semangat seseorang, merasakan langit dan bumi, menentukan satu titik di dalam kekosongan yang terikat erat dengan diri sendiri, dan menyelesaikan tindakan penempaan bukaan. Ini benar-benar sebuah transformasi yang bersifat mendasar...
Bukaan-bukaan di dalam kekosongan milikku telah membentuk empat kaki, empat sayap, dan sebentang kegelapan...
Empat kaki itu, jika digabungkan dengan dua kaki asliku, bersesuaian dengan atas, bawah, dan empat arah penjuru mata angin—Enam Penjuru. Kaki-kaki itu adalah perwujudan dari Menetapkan Enam Penjuru, menyentuh kekuatan ruang, bagian dari ruang-waktu...
Empat sayap itu bersesuaian dengan musim semi, musim panas, musim gugur, dan musim dingin—Empat Musim. Sayap-sayap itu memanifestasikan kekuatan waktu, bagian lain dari ruang-waktu. Itu adalah perwujudan dari Membagi Empat Musim.
Bentangan kegelapan serta Kekacauan di wajahku bersesuaian dengan Membawa Segala Senda ke Dalam Kesatuan. Kegelapan yang disebut pertama membatasi jangkauan kekosongan eksternalku dan kemampuan merasakan-semangat. Aku tidak bisa menjadi seperti Guru, yang mampu menghasilkan langit berbintang yang merentang sejauh dua hingga tiga ratus kaki...
Adapun Mewujudkan Dao dan Kebajikannya serta Menghalau Setan dan Menangkal Kejahatan, aku masih belum bisa memastikan bagaimana semua itu akan termanifestasikan...
Aku telah memperoleh satu organ kantong kuning dan dua set jeroan non-manusia lagi, satu set berisi dua, dan satu set lainnya berisi tiga. Apakah ini melambangkan: Dao melahirkan satu, satu melahirkan dua, dua melahirkan tiga?
Qi yang mengalir melalui meridianku terasa redup dan samar, membawa karakteristik Kekacauan. Tampaknya seni bela diri dunia ini memang mengenal qi sejati. Mengenai qi sejatiku, aku akan memberinya nama begitu aku mengpahami apa kegunaannya sebenarnya...
Qi sejati bersemayam di dantian tengah, Istana Crimson. Semangat dan niat bersemayam di dantian atas—bukaan leluhur, yang juga disebut sebagai celah mistis atau Istana Niwan. Dantian bawah adalah singgasana esensi primordial. Dantian itu menyimpan esensi dan menghimpun asal-usul. Apa yang diperoleh setiap hari melalui makan, bernapas, dan mengedarkan qi lewat kultivasi disimpan di dantian bawah. Esensi primordial secara spontan menghasilkan qi sejati, yang mengalir ke Istana Crimson...
Bagi seorang seniman bela diri normal, jika qi sejati habis sepenuhnya, orang tersebut dapat mengonsumsi esensi primordial sebagai pengganti sementara. Jika terlalu banyak esensi primordial yang dikonsumsi, hal itu dapat merusak umur seseorang—sebuah kerusakan yang tidak dapat dipulihkan sendiri, yang memerlukan cara eksternal atau terobosan dalam alam...
Aku berbeda dari seniman bela diri normal untuk saat ini. Ketika qi sejatiku habis dan aku harus mengisinya kembali dengan cepat alih-alih memulihkannya lewat meditasi duduk, istirahat, atau cara serupa, aku akan mengonsumsi kekuatan Kekacauan sebagai gantinya. Setiap bagian kekuatan Kekacauan yang dikonsumsi akan memperpendek jumlah tahun aku dapat mempertahankan Alam Dharma yang sempurna ini dalam jumlah tertentu...
Dengan secercah niat, Ding Songyan membuat kaki tambahan yang terbuka serta sayap yang cemerlang lenyap dalam sekejap.
Anggota tubuh itu telah disembunyikan di dalam kekosongan.
Ding Songyan melangkah keluar dari sayap barat, mengambil cermin perunggu dari ruangan utama, dan mengamati penampilannya saat ini dengan cermat.
Wajahnya tampak redup dan samar, seolah diselubungi oleh se lapisan kain kasa hitam. Kulit di lehernya tampak kekuningan, seolah telah diolesi lilin sebagai tindakan pencegahan terhadap embun beku.
Selain kedua hal itu, segala sesuatunya tampak normal.
Aku terlalu optimis sebelumnya. Aku pikir jika aku memakan sisa-sisa Kekacauan, perubahan fisik yang ditimbulkannya tidak akan menjadi masalah besar, dan aku bisa menyembunyikannya seperti yang dilakukan Kakak Youyang... Namun tampaknya ini adalah sesuatu yang tidak bisa disembunyikan dari orang lain. Menyembunyikan... menyembunyikan... Ding Songyan tiba-tiba mendapati dirinya merasa iri pada Seni Ilahi Transformasi Langit dan Bumi milik sang iblis wanita.
Seni itu mampu menghadirkan transformasi, menutupi kelainan luar, dengan cara yang sulit dilihat tembus kecuali seseorang adalah seorang Grandmaster yang menghadapinya secara langsung atau memiliki teknik khusus.
Memikirkan hal ini, Ding Songyan teringat bahwa masih ada seutas qi milik Yan Changqing di dalam lautan kesadarannya.
Dengan jiwa Yan Changqing yang telah musnah oleh petir netral, qi ini telah menjadi benda tanpa pemilik. Dan qi itu telah diturunkan dari cetakan Hati Surgawi.
Ding Songyan dengan cepat memantapkan kesadarannya di bukaan leluhur, memusatkan semangatnya pada Istana Niwan, dan untuk pertama kalinya menggunakan kekuatannya sendiri untuk memeriksa lautan kesadarannya.
Lautan bayangan yang luas, tak berujung, dan bergelombang ini seharusnya berpijar dengan cahaya keemasan. Namun kini, lautan itu telah sepenuhnya ditelan oleh kegelapan—bahkan satu "ombak" pun tidak terlihat.
Pemikiran di lautan kesadaranku telah disembunyikan di dalam Kekacauan? Itu berarti, kecuali aku menghadapi teknik yang menawar hal ini, atau seseorang mengalahkanku dengan dominasi alam semata, tidak seorang pun akan pernah bisa membaca pikiranku atau merangsek ke dalam jiwaku? Ding Songyan disergap oleh gelombang kegembiraan.
Dia masih bisa menjalankan pemikiran secara sungguh-sungguh saat ini, tanpa terhalang oleh Kekacauan. Hanya saja, tidak satupun dari pemikiran itu yang bocor melampaui kegelapan kecuali dia sendiri mengizinkannya.
Pada saat ini, di atas
All banquets under heaven must come to an end.
When everything had finally settled, the part of Ding Songyan’s consciousness that had been pulled free to look down upon his own body returned to its mortal coil. It was enveloped by the dim, indistinct Chaos that shrouded his face.
His spirit naturally spread outward, but drawn back by the pull of his own chaos, it stopped at a distance of fifty feet—a range that was clearly smaller than it ought to be.
Beyond that limit, he could only rely on his eyes to see, his ears to hear, and his nose to smell.
This was the weakness that the Chaos characteristic brought. Yet within fifty feet, working in concert with his exterior apertures, Ding Songyan’s grasp of the environment, his ability to influence and alter it, and even his power to make the intangible real—all of it approached the state he had once reached by leveraging the power of heaven and earth through the Celestial Heart. It should surpass the vast majority of Dharma Realm Grandmasters.
Setting aside the urge to explore further, Ding Songyan first turned his attention inward to examine his current condition.
He sent his spirit through the ancestral aperture, settled his awareness in the dantian , let his qi flow through his entire body, and gradually arrived at a series of imprecise but tangible assessments.
This should count as the perfected Dharma Realm. But just as I suspected, these Chaos remains were clearly insufficient. In as soon as three years to as late as five, my strength will fade, and my realm along with it. I must complete the corresponding martial path before then to consolidate my realm and power, making them truly mine...
That demoness’s portion is certainly enough. It may even be a little excessive. Though a little excess makes no real difference, I still hope it gives her trouble—something that keeps her from coming after me for the next three to five years...
My body has been strengthened and transformed by Chaos. All the apertures that belong to the human constitution have successfully crystallized. These are concrete, lasting changes. They would remain even if my strength were to fade right now. I will still maintain the perfected Human Realm...
What is impermanent is the non-human apertures, the aberrant meridians, the non-human organs, and the exterior apertures, all forcibly condensed by the power of Chaos. If I cannot work out a method of cultivation to stabilize them, they will gradually dissipate in three to five years...
Looking at it this way, even if acupoint-sealing techniques exist in this world, they cannot be particularly powerful. After all, from the Great Proliferation Realm onward, different martial lineages produce warriors with different apertures and meridians. Sealing the same human acupoint would therefore produce different effects on different people...
And indeed, as I wondered before... What happens when the relevant aperture lies outside the body? Naturally, the answer involves the condensation of apertures in the void. The dividing line between the Dharma Realm and the Great Proliferation Realm is precisely being able to roam the space around oneself with one’s spirit, sensing heaven and earth, locating a point in the void intimately bound to oneself, and completing an act of aperture-forging. It truly is a transformation of a fundamental nature...
My apertures in the void have formed four legs, four wings, and a stretch of darkness...
The four legs, combined with my original two, correspond to up, down, and the four cardinal directions—the Six Directions. They are the embodiment of Establishing the Six Directions, touching on the power of space, a part of space-time...
The four wings correspond to spring, summer, autumn, and winter—the Four Seasons. They manifest the power of time, the other part of space-time. It’s the embodiment of Dividing the Four Seasons.
That expanse of darkness and the Chaos on my face correspond to Bringing All Things Into Unity. The former limits the range of my exterior void and spirit-sensing. I cannot be like Master, who’s capable of producing a stellar sky spanning two to three hundred feet...
As for Manifesting the Way and Its Virtue and Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil, I still cannot tell how they will manifest...
I have gained one yellow-sac organ and two more sets of non-human viscera, one set containing two, the other containing three. Does this represent: the Way gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three?
The qi flowing through my meridians is dim and indistinct, bearing the characteristics of Chaos. It seems this world’s martial arts do speak of true qi after all. As for my true qi, I’ll give it a name once I understand what it actually does...
True qi resides in the central dantian, the Crimson Palace. Spirit and intention reside in the upper dantian—the ancestral aperture, also called the mystical pass or Niwan Palace. The lower dantian is the seat of primordial essence. It stores essence and gathers origin. What is gained daily through eating, breathing, and circulating qi through cultivation is stored in the lower dantian. Primordial essence spontaneously generates true qi, which flows to the Crimson Palace...
For a normal martial artist, if true qi is fully spent, one can consume primordial essence as a temporary substitute. If too much primordial essence is consumed, it could damage one’s lifespan—a damage one cannot reverse by oneself, requiring external means or a breakthrough in realm...
I differ from normal martial artists for now. When my true qi is spent and I need to replenish it quickly instead of recovering through sitting meditation, rest, or similar means. I will consume Chaos force instead. Each portion of Chaos force consumed will shorten the number of years I can maintain this perfected Dharma Realm by some amount...
With a flicker of intent, Ding Songyan made the exposed extra legs and resplendent wings vanish in an instant.
They had been hidden away in the void.
Ding Songyan stepped out of the west wing, fetched the bronze mirror from the main room, and carefully studied his current appearance.
His face was dim and indistinct, as though veiled by a layer of black gauze. The skin of his neck was visibly yellowish, as though wax had been applied as an anti-frost measure.
Other than these two points, everything else was considered normal.
I was a little optimistic earlier. I thought that if I ate the Chaos remains, the physical changes it brought would be no great matter, that I could conceal them like Brother Youyang does... But it seems this is something that can’t be hidden from others. Conceal... conceal... Ding Songyan suddenly found himself envying the demoness’s Divine Art of Heaven and Earth Transmutation.
That art could bring about transformations, masking outward abnormalities, in ways that were difficult to see through unless one was a Grandmaster facing them directly or possessed a special technique.
At the thought of this, Ding Songyan remembered that there was still a thread of Yan Changqing’s qi within his sea of consciousness.
With Yan Changqing’s soul obliterated by the nether lightning, this qi had become an object without a master. And it had been derived from the Celestial Heart imprint.
Ding Songyan quickly settled his awareness in the ancestral aperture, fixed his spirit on the Niwan Palace, and for the first time used his own power to examine his sea of consciousness.
This vast, endless, undulating phantom ocean should have been blazing with golden light. But now it was entirely swallowed by darkness—not a single "wave" could be seen.
The thoughts in my sea of consciousness have been hidden within Chaos? That means, unless I encounter a technique that counters this, or someone overwhelms me with sheer realm domination, no one will ever be able to read my mind or ransack my soul? Ding Songyan was struck by a surge of delight.
He could still genuinely run through thoughts right now, unimpeded by the Chaos. It was simply that none of those thoughts leaked beyond the darkness unless he himself permitted it.
At this moment, upon that deep and dark "sea," beneath the shrouding mist of the high sky above, the hazy "seed" still remained.
Ding Songyan already knew why. If he roused the darkness blanketing his sea of consciousness, he could effortlessly dissolve what remained of Yan Changqing’s qi , letting this external object return to Chaos, its Celestial Heart properties never to manifest again.
But then, he quickly recalled what Yan Changqing had told Ji Hanyi: that the special nature of Chaos could accommodate the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom.
Accommodate? A manifestation of Manifesting the Way and Its Virtue? Ding Songyan drew out a thread of dark true qi with keen interest, letting it curl upward like wisps of smoke, and brought it close to the phantom "seed."
That thread of qi sank noiselessly into the hazy "seed." In an instant, before Ding Songyan’s eyes, a strange vision materialized. It resembled a honeycomb, yet considerably simpler than one.
This "honeycomb" was composed of the hazy qi , which interwove into multiple strange imprints—cloud-patterns, thunder-patterns, all manner of forms—like different "chambers."
Eh... Ding Songyan tried infusing the vision with his own intention, specifically, the will of "piercing illusion."
The thread of dark true qi immediately began to move through several "chambers," then swiftly slipped back out of the hazy "seed" and traveled to Ding Songyan’s eyes.
Ding Songyan’s sight became extraordinarily clear in an instant.
He had once again acquired the ability to pierce illusions.
He finally understood what "Manifesting the Way and Its Virtue" meant: The Way is innate; Virtue is acquired. The two joined as one implies proliferating heaven and earth, proliferating all things and all dharma!
Truly worthy of the remains of the most ancient Celestial Thearch! Ding Songyan could not help but marvel inwardly.
Though he had never read the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom and could not fundamentally proliferate its abilities and techniques from first principles, so long as that thread of Yan Changqing’s qi remained, he could use the hazy "seed" to let his own qi proliferate and manifest corresponding transformations—achieving the same results, only two or three notches weaker.
And this would not consume Yan Changqing’s qi . It served merely as the template to be copied.
Ding Songyan’s eyes lit up with his characteristic love of experimentation. He tried again and again, discovering that dark true qi , once transformed through the hazy "seed," could indeed accomplish illusion piercing, body protection, leaping, the sensing of heaven and earth, and the activation of his yin eyes.
What it could not do was inject the celestial heart into the hearts of men or transmit qi to others through a Celestial Heart imprint.
A Celestial Heart imprint is indeed the act of pouring one’s thoughts and thinking into a target through the Celestial Heart to influence them, not a matter of reading minds or memories... No wonder my thoughts were still my own every time I simply contemplated doing something; only when I actually intended to act would I be affected. There is also the idea of ’don’t think about certain things.’ Looking at it this way, for a Celestial Heart imprint to function at its best, the practitioner would either need to be close to the target and observe conditions at all times, or have a very deep understanding of the target. Following this line of thought, Ding Songyan realized there was one more thing he had not yet tried.
He once again drew a thread of dark true qi into the hazy "seed," this time carrying with it the thought of "concealing changes."
When it emerged from the hazy "seed," that thread of qi had already proliferated into the same hue.
As it circulated through his entire body, Ding Songyan watched in the bronze mirror as his complexion swiftly "returned" to normal, his face once again becoming distinct and clear.
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