Chapter 143: Swallow an Aurous Core and One Transcends Life and Death
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: - -
The pounding of the drum rocked the heavens. Despite being a replica, the drum embodied the destructive force of the original one, as well as the ability to eradicate all kinds of magic formations.
Earlier, the Great Thunderclap Temple’s mountain defence tool, the Great Sun of the Buddha Formation, was overcome by the Almighty Celestial Destroyer Formation of the Great Zhou Dynasty with the help of the Formation Bursting Drum.
The sound waves seemed almost tangible as they rolled towards the Two Elements of Creation Formation like crashing tides.
Faced with such a strong adversary, the Two Elements of Creation Formation began to shimmer and morph to defend against the attack.
However, the current Two Elements of Creation Formation was but a weaker version. It lacked a magic treasure to take pointers from and the materials to set it up and was relying entirely on a formation map to harness the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth.
Lin Feng himself was unable to direct the magic formation and was completely reliant on the autonomy of the formation to work itself.
Even if it were the Almighty Destroyer Celestial Formation from the Great Swamp of the Ancient Regions back in the old days battling the drum, it would still have been a completely different story.
Under the assault of the pounding of the drum, the light streaks that formed the Two Elements of Creation Formation were struggling to defend themselves and were slowly falling apart.
In the end, the magic formation completely crumbled from the immense pressure with a bang.
With that, all the light streaks collapsed into a singularity and back into a tiny formation map. The small item flew up the heavens and back into the small portal created by the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree.
Chen Gang's eyes sparkled as he said, "Sooner or later, it will all be mine."
Liu Xiang could wait no longer as he watched on beside Chen Gang. He immediately took the lead and charged up Mount Yujing as he shouted, "Bastard Lin, show yourself!"
The Liefeng Priest and the Fire Crow Commander hesitated as they glanced at each other before they flew up to the summit of Mount Yujing.
Even though Chen Gang was the last to land, he had already assumed the role of leader. He beamed as he looked around with an expression of satisfaction and complacency.
"Don't blame me for dragging you out and embarrassing you in front of your disciples if you don't come out now."
.........
The tip of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree extended into the void. There was another smaller Black Heavenly Treasure Tree growing over there.
Golden vines were spreading all over this shrunken version at this point in time.
Strangely, the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree had no reaction to the obviously parasitic vines. It seemed as if the two were in some sort of symbiosis and near-perfect harmony and integrated as one being.
Lin Feng sat at the very tip of the tree with his eyes closed and knees crossed.
One month passed in the outside world, but time in the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World was faster by a hundred times, essentially one hundred months.
Lin Feng had been meditating in the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World for more than eight years.
Throughout these eight years, Lin Feng was painstakingly seeking enlightenment on the mantra. The mana within his body was brimming with fullness as he had already reached the pinnacle of the Foundation Establishment stage. He was only a hair’s breadth away from the Aurous Core stage.
All of a sudden, a light streak pierced through the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World and landed right before his eyes. It was the map of the Two Elements of Creation Formation.
Lin Feng did not so much as cast a glance as if he did not even notice.
His focus was all on the pool of mana within his body, atop the crucible on the spiritual altar.
Purple energy rolled around inside the Supreme Crucible and was combined with Lin Feng’s Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams in training and meditation.
Uncountable elements of the world and creation flickered within the purple energy, appearing for an instant and then disappearing, and subsequently fused into a spiralling shadow.
This sphere-like shadow was also bouncing around in the purple energy and emanated a faint golden sparkle.
This was the embryonic form of the Aurous Core, even though it was illusory and far from the authentic Aurous Core.
Throughout these eight years, Lin Feng was accumulating mana within his body in preparation for the Aurous Core.
Yet, the journey to the Aurous Core was far from easy. The Qi Cultivation Stage and the art of cultivation and meditation were but a preparation phase, and the Foundation Establishment Stage represented an introduction where the individual began to consolidate his foundations. Only when one began the journey to the Aurous Core could he say that he had finally begun studying the art of cultivation.
Why was this so? Cultivators in the Qi Cultivation Stage did not extend his or her lifetime, and even the cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage had a lifespan that did not exceed two or three hundred years.
Only when the cultivator had reached the Aurous Core Stage would his lifespan explode to more than a thousand years. At this point, he would be defying nature.
Therefore, in the world of cultivation and magical powers there was only one saying, “As you swallow an Aurous Core, you break through life and death.”
Forming the Aurous Core broke through the limits of normal life, challenged the traditional concept of death and bequeathed the individual with thousands of years of unfettered freedom.
This gave the individual enough time to continue exploring and seek enlightenment on the true meanings of Heaven and Earth.
The essence of the Aurous Core was in its immortality and immunity to decay.
In order to achieve that, besides accumulating enough mana and spiritual energy one also needed to attain a certain level of sentiment and empathy for the dilemma between life and death.
Recently, Lin Feng’s cognition entered an intriguing state.
On one hand, he channelled all his focus on seeking enlightenment on mantra and accumulating spiritual energy and mana.
On the other hand, an incalculable number of disorganized and messy scenes and a myriad of strange and aberrant items flashed across his mind.
All these scenes included his experiences after entering the Great Celestial World. He recalled his confusion and anxiety upon entering the new world, taking in Xiao Budian and his other disciples as well as his journey to find Mount Yujing.
There were memories from his previous life as well. Some things that were meant to be forgotten and lost in the tides of time vividly resurfaced for unknown reasons.
He reminisced sprinting along the road as a toddler, teasing girls in primary school, perspiring on the court during secondary school as well as losing sleep over the college entrance examination.
The air flow and life around Lin Feng gradually returned to stillness and dissipated slowly until there was nothing left. It almost seemed as if his whole body had turned into a corpse with no signs of life.
Livelihood returned to Lin Feng as he drew his next breath and his whole body freshened up in an instant.
Lin Feng’s physical state oscillated between death and rehabilitation.
Lin Feng opened his eyes. “There are several big fears in our lives. What can we do to relieve ourselves of them?”
Life was birth, age, illness and death.
Fate was a success, procession, decadence and emptiness.
The passing of life and the cessation of karma was not the ultimate end. Instead, it was a new beginning as one entered the next cycle.
The cycle went on and on and it never stopped.
Ending it all was for the sole purpose of a new beginning.
This immovable determination was the true animus and meaning of eternity. Everybody descended into decadence and decay and nobody could escape that. The idea was to regain new life after collapsing from a path of dilapidation and start again.
The key to the Aurous Core was this particular dauntlessness, portrayed as immortality and permanence.
Whether or not the cultivator can attain the Aurous Core did not depend on the goodness of one’s actions, the openness of one’s mind, the standard of morals and ethics nor the effort one put in.
What was important in attaining was Aurous Core was this unflinching attitude and belief towards existence; it was the immense courage and fearlessness even when faced with life’s greatest fears and adversaries.
It was with these virtues of indomitability, courage and bravery with which one could break through life and death.
A faint smile broke out across Lin Feng’s face.
“I’m coming.”
The mana and spiritual energy within the cuticle trembled and shook as they integrated into the faint shadow of the Aurous Core triggering an explosion of brilliant radiance.
The golden streaks of light gradually changed into a purple hue. Heavenly tunes could be heard faintly from within this purple light as if it were a song of transcendence originating from a faraway land, and filled with the most profound principles of the world.
At the center of the purple light was a spherical Aurous Core, sparkling in all its grandeur and brilliance.
Lin Feng stood up with a whoosh. In an instant, his white plumage hat and robe disintegrated into ash.
With a wave of his hand, the purple light streaks around him surged from the void and enveloped Lin Feng.
Lin Feng stretched out his arms while the purple energy once again cocooned him and morphed into a wide-sleeved purple-colored cloak. There was no denying the dazzling elegance.
The Black Heavenly Treasure Tree’s leaves shifted, swayed and trembled even though there was no wind, almost as if it was celebrating for Lin Feng and sharing in his glory.
Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, Mount Yujing, and the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds in the sky.
Lin Feng could feel that this new equilibrium between him and the three was much more resilient than before.
Lin Feng smiled coldly and scoffed, “Have the unwelcomed guests outside made enough of a ruckus?”