Chapter: 1077 (1/2)
AST 1077 – The Earth Diamond Bear Of Early Stage Adulthood, Ancient Temple
Qing Shui managed to climbed up to the first tier of the mountain. He stood on top and gazed around at the scenery, realizing that the first tier was already quite high. He cocked his head upwards to face the overlapping skies and thought about the so-called other four continents up in the sky. Were the other four continents situated in a higher land or was the sky separated into multiple layers?
He shook his head and dispersed his thoughts. Even if someone were to tell him that imperial palaces exist in the sky, he wouldn’t have a hard time believing it. At that moment, he recalled the circumstances of his journey and he realized that his life had been revolving around shouldering responsibilities and burdens. Even now, he was still shouldering heavy burdens on his own.
Aside from him, there were many who had been shouldering burdens in their lives too. However, burdens came in different sizes, so it would be subjective for each person carrying them. For Qing Shui, one type of burden may be insignificant but for other people, that burden felt extremely heavy and important. Because of that, it would be sufficient to say that everyone had their fair share of hardship in their lives.
The pressure on his body was growing but Qing Shui could not sense it for now. In any case, he continued to climb towards the higher tiers slowly. Burdens could be a life-changing mission. If one could cast off their burdens, then he or she would complete their mission, which in turn would allow them to live happier and blissful lives.
In the words of Buddhism, one would always suffer as long as one lived. They would experience the suffering of living, the suffering of aging, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of parting from loved ones, the suffering of meeting what one disliked, the suffering of being unable to obtain what they wanted and the suffering arising from the five components constituting one’s body and mind. Life would always be filled with sufferings. How could a cultivator cut off the roots of suffering when one would always seek what they had always wanted?
Sure, life was a whirlwind of sufferings but happiness could be found amidst the constant blossoms of suffering. As much as there were sufferings, there would be an abundance of happiness too. It would all depend on how one looked at their sufferings. However, in some cases, these sufferings could strike a blow to a person’s heart and kill them without mercy.
Life would always be short, so one might as well turn their sufferings into blessings!
Perhaps Qing Shui had been asking for it all along!
He quickly shook his head again. His aura was fluctuating constantly, a delicate change to his body, which also caused the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation to solidify slowly. He wasn’t the type to be depressed as he still had many things he needed to do in this world. Life would always be filled with endless battles, battle with the heavens, battle with the nature on earth and battle with other humans.
Unconsciously, he had already reached the peak of the second tier mountain. The surrounding air was filled with a subtle fog hovering around him. He didn’t exactly know why there would be a mountain as strange as this but strange places were abundant in the World of the Nine Continents, so he was more intrigued than confused.
A formless energy seemed to be guiding Qing Shui forward. His train of thoughts and spirit were beginning to change slowly and his aura was beginning to grow immensely, penetrating everywhere as the aura continued to emit from his body.
The third tier of the mountain!
Suddenly, Qing Shui felt like he had awoken from his dream and felt a sudden rush of pressure from Heaven and Earth gushing towards him like a raging sea wave. His lower body, starting from his knees, began to sink down onto the hard mountain rocks immediately, yet he was able to maintain a straight back without any sign of bending or arching.
Roar roar!
Qing Shui stood on the rocks quietly without moving an inch of his muscles. The Nature Energy and the State of Immovable as Mountains were circulated to the maximum in an attempt to neutralize the immense pressure around him.
Roc’s Might!
Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation!
The activation of his skills consumed a lot more energy than usual. This was the first time Qing Shui had extreme difficulty climbing a mountain. But because of that, he was able to reap a whole lot of benefits just from climbing a short distance and he was able to increase his power by an incredible amount as well.
Qing Shui slowly lifted his legs but once he had lifted about an inch upwards, he was being forced down again by the pressure. His legs submerged into the rocks quite intensely, causing the rocks around his legs to crack and crumble away slowly. The Yin-Yang Image in his sea of consciousness began to circulate as fast as it could.
Up!
Qing Shui shouted in a muffled voice and took a step forward. In doing so, the rocks around his step were immediately crushed into powdered pieces of fine dust.
He continued upwards but with every step he made, he would crush the rocks under his feet in greater amounts. It has been a while since he had sweated. He did have blood running from the corner of his mouth but almost never had sweat rolled down his body. At that moment, Qing Shui was drenched completely in his sweat, as if he had been exposed to a heavy rain.
As he was about to climb onto the fourth tier of the mountain, his movements had become slow as a snail. He was even slower than snails, in fact, because he required a long time before he could take a step upwards. His personality and willpower were as solid as a rock but even so, he was rendered powerless. One wouldn’t necessarily succeed with sheer willpower and perseverance, because one would need a parallel amount of power to do so as well.
Roar roar!
The Earth Diamond Bear began to growl in a low tone, as if it had sensed a hint of desolation slowly overwhelming Qing Shui’s emotion. Its growls became intense, deeper yet increasing distant.
Qing Shui became uncertain for a while. However, the aura of the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation began to fluctuate suddenly, growing intenser by the minute. He stopped in his tracks and circulated his Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation so that he could stabilize the fluctuating aura of the Earth Diamond Bear.
Roar!
A boundless amount of energy began to surge inside his body. It was as warm as spring, yet it felt like he had finally lain down on a comfortable bed after countless years of endless exhaustion and fatigue. Then again, he felt like a desert drought that had been nourished suddenly with moisture. Those feelings were wonderful yet miraculous at the same time.
Huuuu!
All of a sudden, Qing Shui felt like his body had been filled with energy to the brim. The silhouette of the Earth Diamond Bear grew bigger in an instant, which was about 20 meters in size. Moreover, the bear seemed more substantial and the color of the bear was turning more of a golden yellow.
The Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation had achieved a breakthrough…
Because it was surprisingly unexpected, Qing Shui remained still and stared into the blank space. He did think about the breakthrough of the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation but did not expect it this soon. Thanks to the breakthrough, the feeling of difficulty in taking another step had vanished quickly and completely. Based on that alone, he knew that the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation had grown much stronger. Without hesitation, Qing Shui delved into his sea of consciousness to analyze his skill.