Chapter 53: Mad
The Sea of Consciousness, the most wondrous and mysterious place within the human body.
In the Profound Yellow Realm, it is commonly referred to as the abode of the soul.
If a person truly possesses three souls and seven spirits, they reside within the Sea of Consciousness.
Once the Sea of Consciousness collapses, death is inevitable.
Many so-called mental-type spells attack the Sea of Consciousness.
Xiang Yan and the others had not used their Divine Sense to probe Chu Huaixu’s Sea of Consciousness just now.
Since Chu Huaixu had not yet formally begun his cultivation, he had not yet developed Divine Sense, making his Sea of Consciousness incredibly fragile.
Even with the utmost caution, having so many people’s Divine Sense probe simultaneously could very easily lead to his demise.
They had no idea how Shen Man had detected that the secret was within the Sea of Consciousness, perhaps it was because she too had achieved the Clarity of Sword Heart realm.
Xiang Yan simply stated, “To probe his Sea of Consciousness, he needs to stabilize his mind, otherwise, it’s easy for things to go wrong.”
“That’s easy!” Chu Yinyin, who was only 1.5 meters tall, jumped up, ready to deliver a chop to Chu Huaixu’s head to knock him unconscious.
In the end, it was Nangong Yue, with her gentle demeanor, who stood beside him. She waved her hand, blocking Chu Yinyin with her aura, and then gently blew a breath, causing Chu Huaixu to fall unconscious.
“He’ll be fine after a good sleep,” was the last gentle female voice he heard.
Chu Huaixu’s body toppled backward, but Nangong Yue quickly reached out and steadied him, nearly letting him fall into her ample embrace, using her chest as a pillow.
“You could have just used a spell, you clumsy person, always acting rashly,” she chided her Junior Sister.
“Tch!” Chu Yinyin turned her head away, ignoring her.
As the Sect Leader, Xiang Yan continued to direct the overall situation.
“Seventh Junior Sister, it’s your turn,” he said to the Daoist Nun on the giant rock.
Shen Man nodded slightly, and her Divine Sense spread out.
Before long, a slight frown appeared on her slender face.
“The Spiritual Embryo is strange.”
“It’s a Divine Ability,” she said.
She habitually spoke sparingly and clipped her words.
The others could roughly understand her meaning.
However, to ensure certainty, these uninvited guests took turns entering Chu Huaixu’s Sea of Consciousness.
As they entered, they discussed.
“I’ve never heard of this type of Spiritual Embryo.”
“What a strange Spiritual Embryo, unheard of, and not recorded in the sect’s scriptures.”
“And how can it be a Spiritual Embryo Divine Ability? How can someone’s Spiritual Embryo Divine Ability be Clarity of Sword Heart?”
“This small black sword within his Sea of Consciousness is also very peculiar, and why do I feel like it has sentience?”
They went in and out in a queue, and finally, it was Chu Yinyin’s turn.
“Let me see! Let me see!” Chu Yinyin couldn’t wait any longer.
She eagerly probed his Sea of Consciousness, and unexpectedly, the sickly black sword within it suddenly trembled as if it could no longer bear it.
Chu Yinyin’s Divine Sense was repelled, and she took a step back, her face extremely pale. The spiritual sword in her hand, [Mutual Joy], began to emit bursts of sword hums uncontrollably!
A cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Sixth Realm was caught off guard on the spiritual sense level!
“Junior Sister!” everyone exclaimed in alarm and quickly moved to protect her.
This old maiden, possibly still under 1.5 meters tall, looked down at her Destined Sword, then at the handsome young man lying on the ground, and raised her hand to pat her flat chest, which was as smooth as her back.
“You scared the life out of me! That sword in his Sea of Consciousness is truly alive!”
“It gives me the feeling of… like…” Chu Yinyin couldn’t find the precise word.
The Daoist Nun seated on the giant rock suddenly spoke again.
Her voice was slow as she struggled to utter two words.
“Sword Spirit.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk!” This group of “disrespectful old” high-ranking members of the Daoist Sect gathered around the prone Chu Huaixu, marveling.
Nangong Yue, a master artifact refiner, even wanted to take him home for a few days.
“Swords have Sword Spirits, but I’ve never heard of people having one!” she said.
Li Chunsong frowned, offering his opinion, “Could the problem still lie with that Sword Refining Art?”
Everyone had enthusiastically discussed this Meridian-Opening Stage cultivation technique before, feeling that it was adapted from artifact refining methods, treating the human body directly as a Sword Embryo.
However, this technique had been acquired from their Junior Uncle, and Chu Huaixu had indeed successfully opened his acupoints, so no one had thought much of it then, letting the strangeness be.
There were plenty of bizarre cultivation techniques in the world; Chu Yinyin, who had turned into an old maiden because of a cultivation technique, was a living example, wasn’t she?
Cultivation was inherently going against heavens, and paying a price was normal.
But how did this lead to the formation of something akin to a Sword Spirit?
Xiang Yan, hearing this, was the first to shake his bald head.
“The peculiarities on his body are closely related to his Spiritual Embryo, including this Clarity of Sword Heart, which is also his Spiritual Embryo’s Divine Ability.”
“Sixth Junior Brother, you must understand that a cultivation technique is a cultivation technique, and a Spiritual Embryo is a Spiritual Embryo. How can the two influence each other?”
“A person’s Spiritual Embryo is innate, fixed from the moment of birth. Even if one consumes a Profound Heaven Fetal Respiration Pill, it only enhances the grade, but it does not change the type.”
“Even a False Spiritual Embryo can be understood as a Spiritual Embryo that has not been activated by birth; its type and characteristics are fixed from the moment of birth.”
“It’s not possible that he cultivated the technique first and then formed the Spiritual Embryo, right?” Xiang Yan refuted Li Chunsong’s view.
Lu Pan nodded in agreement, “The Sect Leader is correct, when have our Spiritual Embryos ever been influenced by cultivation techniques?”
After much discussion, they couldn’t come to a definitive conclusion.
However, from the current perspective, it didn’t seem to be a bad thing.
Xiang Yan also mentioned a crucial point.
“The Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth is imminent, and the Primeval Spirit Realm will open. This young man has already attained Clarity of Sword Heart at this time; how much of a role he can play, I don’t need to elaborate, do I?”
Hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up.
“One with Clarity of Sword Heart, and one with the Nine Yin Body.”
“Seventh Junior Sister received the inheritance from the Dao Ancestor a year ago and saw the prophecy left by the Dao Ancestor. Junior Uncle descended the mountain based on the prophecy, saying he was going to find the savior, and he truly found him!”
“Heaven truly blesses our Daoist Sect, Heaven truly blesses the Profound Yellow Realm!” the eldest, Lu Pan, exclaimed with deep emotion.
Everyone burst into laughter, feeling their burdens lighten.
Only Chu Yinyin stood aside, her mouth slightly agape in shock. She now understood why those below the Seventh Realm were not meant to know; she hadn’t realized this matter was even bigger than she had imagined!
This involved not just the Daoist Sect, but the countless beings of the Profound Yellow Realm!
Strangely enough, this thought entered the old maiden’s mind: “Junior Uncle is actually this reliable this time?”
“This doesn’t seem like him…” she muttered to herself.
Finally, after discussion, they decided to have Lu Pan take action and place a restriction on Chu Huaixu to prevent outsiders from detecting the presence of the black sword.
After completing this, Xiang Yan then instructed, “Sixth Junior Brother, send him back to the Outer Sect. Both he and Han Shuangjiang are like unpolished jades that need further refinement. Oh, and don’t forget to make up a plausible reason to dismiss those busybodies in the Outer Sect.”
“Yes,” Li Chunsong acknowledged the order.
Beside the cold pond, Liu Chengqi, having exceeded the time limit, was kicked out of the Secret Realm after spending two hours in the illusion.
“Gurgle, gurgle!”
A force suddenly threw him into the cold pond. The water-repelling bead did not take effect immediately, and he immediately choked on water.
Within the Secret Realm, he had been wandering through a labyrinth, utterly exhausted and despairing, with no idea when the end would come.
Now, he was suddenly expelled and nearly drowned, descending into a state of near collapse.
He numbly and dejectedly swam to the shore, looking extremely disheveled and with his mentality completely shattered.
However, upon reaching the shore, he found no one waiting by the cold pond; it was completely empty.
“Father! Father!!” Liu Chengqi collapsed to his knees and roared, his grief overwhelming him.
Before he was kicked out of the Secret Realm, the illusion had dissipated, and it was then that he realized he had actually been trapped in an illusion.
Now, seeing that Liu Tianfeng was not waiting for him by the shore, he soon became like a madman, muttering incessantly:
“It’s all an illusion, it’s all an illusion, it’s all an illusion…”
(End of Chapter)
