264 It Is Tonigh (1/2)
Wei Xinglu giggled and said, ”The journey of martial arts is endless and without limits! How can there be perfection? If perfection truly exists, how can there be a realm above it?”
Yun Yang scratched his head, his expression abashed and at a loss for an answer.
”The so-called Tenth Perfection is but the secular people's recognition of the journey of the cultivation base and the spread of their own cultivation base.”
Wei Xinglu tittered and continued to explain, ”However, the current concept of nine peaks and nine heavens exists for a reason. Only after one has reached the peak is he able to see the heaven on the other side of that peak. Nonetheless, it is only limited to seeing. If one wanted to gaze upon the entire heaven and earth, he will have to conquer a higher peak.”
”There are few people in this world who are able to climb the mountains, conquer the summits and reach that peak. Those who have arrived at such heights will not have the mood nor the time to return and boast about it.”
”Therefore, this journey of martial arts is engulfed in the clouds and fog. Just like how we, the more notable schools and sects, are aware of the mystery within, the disciples will not take the initiative to announce anything. Although there might be some efforts to maintain accuracy, there are also some elements that have been lost in the telling and the entire concept is difficult to explain...”
”After all, for some realms, when you are there, well, you are there. If you aren’t - you aren’t. There isn’t the slightest thing to hide. Whether one understands it and whether one knows it, is as clear as day!”
Yun Yang listened to him quietly.
”The major sects have confirmed a total of three identification barriers to the way of the martial arts in the Tianxuan Continent. The first is the notion of nine peaks which was well-known as the realm of peaks among the major schools.”
”For most people who had cultivated until the ninth peak, the belief is that they have generally reached the pinnacle. Under normal circumstances, the people who managed to reach this level were mostly the elders that are near the end of their lives. They were no longer able to achieve any further breakthroughs.”
”However, once someone passes the realm of ninth peak to an even higher level, it is what's known by the worldly ones as the realm of Tenth Perfection, an entirely new realm. The advancements of his cultivation base will be leaps and bounds. It is also at this point in time that the cultivator will experience a rebirth. Martial artists who are more gifted or have a consciousness that exceeds the ordinary will be able to go through the phenomenon of rejuvenation, causing the decrepit body to regain its prime of life at the point of breakthrough. With this breakthrough as the starting point, we call it the realm of heaven. It is also the nine heavens realm that I mentioned earlier, another starting point for yet another cultivation journey.”
”Is there any more information about this? From the knowledge of the masses of our school, only when one has broken through the so-called realm of Tenth Perfection would he be considered as truly entering into the realm of heaven, and to enter into first heaven! He will continue to progress forward until he reaches the ninth heaven. It is again, a process from a lower point to a higher place. However, from its literal meaning, the nine peaks is like hiking the mountain while nine heavens are like reaching for heaven itself!”
Yun Yang could not help but to sigh and exclaim, ”So, this is the true meaning behind the so-called a heaven's difference between each peak. The realm of heaven is the realm that most cultivators are unable to reach. As expected, the realm of heaven is as difficult to reach as the blue sky!”
Wei Xinglu chuckled, ” As difficult as reaching the blue sky? That is both true and untrue. For experienced cultivators, reaching heaven is not difficult at all! What is difficult to reach is each tier of heaven in the nine heavens! Well, the saying of ‘a heaven’s difference between each peak’ can’t be completely wrong. It's simply a joke made by people who have little knowledge about it and had forcefully insisted to have such false analogies. We have discussed this argument with our school many times. Presumably, it was some words spoken out of the motions of some people who had reached the realm of heaven. Listing the realm of peak and heaven together is probably because the both of them have nine tiers. However, it is also because of this that gives birth to ambiguity, causing people to seemingly understand it, and to treat ‘a heaven’s difference between each peak’ as the ultimate rule ... Although this argument is a reasonable one for ordinary cultivators, it only serves as a joke those who are more experienced.”
Yun Yang was silent because he had also spent most of his years immersed in the same 'joke'.
”As for the saying of ‘being above the realm of heaven', there is still the realm of Dao. ”
Wei Xinglu suddenly chuckled wryly and uttered, ”However, as to this realm of Dao, I only know about its name, without knowing which level it involves. My cultivation base is still far from that, even lower than the state of a frog trying to catch a glimpse of the sky from the bottom of the well. I have asked the elders of our school about the mystery of this realm. However, the elders had said that it is not a good thing to know about it too early. They said that I will know about it naturally when I reach that said realm.”
”So the route of the martial arts is extensive indeed, and endless as the saying goes.”
Wei Xinglu uttered, ”The realm of Dao, as far as I know, is the end of the Tianxuan Continent. However, there must be higher levels above the realm of Dao! Eith regards to the other mysteries, I know nothing. One thing is for sure; even if there are still hundreds of levels, it is still far away from the end of the martial arts way.”
Wei Xinglu said his next words very slowly, ”The route of martial arts cultivation is without end, there is only the beginning!”
...
On the second day, Wei Xinglu went out with Gugu. Yun Yang did not ask about why they went out, as long as he had his peace.
He had been putting on his best act for a whole afternoon followed by the whole night. No matter how much of a born actor he was, he was still human, and hence, able to tire.
”Have they gone to the Thousand Feet Lake?”
Yun Yang creased his eyebrows, and shrugged, ”Why are they not giving up yet?”
Although Yun Yang didn’t bother much with that idea, Yun Yang had been going back and forth from the Thousand Feet Lake the entire time. He had explained it clearly since a long time ago. At least within this short time period, the Qirin Fish King would definitely deny any of the Qirin Fish permission to appear in the Thousand Feet Lake.
During this period of time, Yun Yang had taken in the mystical mist thrice. By now, he had worked it out through experience, that it took an accumulation of ten days to occur once, and it might not even appear ...
On this morning, there were a group of strange experts of the martial arts world that entered into Tiantang City together.
All the high-leveled cultivators in Tiantang City had instinctively experienced feelings of mild fear; the whole atmosphere in Tiantang City had turned silent and still, followed by an unusual sense of disquiet and eerieness.
Even under the bright light of the sun, there was an inexplicable sense of the macabre.
It felt like the gates of the residences of hell had suddenly opened, and the ghouls within had taken the opportunity to pour into the human realm.
Eventually, the sky over Tiantang City turned dark with a large number of grey clouds materializing out of thin air. With the sun covered by the clouds, the clear blue sky began to dissipate and disappear altogether.
Among many, Yun Yang was the most sensitive towards the changing of the weather. While observing the turning of the sky that brought about dread undertones, his heart could not help but leap onto an intuition, ”Has the Concourse of the Underworld moved entirely? Are they announcing their intentions openly?”
In the afternoon, Yun Yang had received a piece of paper brought by the chilled wind.
”Kill He Hanqing tonight!”