Chapter 327: Zhu Yi’s Philosophy
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Jiao Junchen’s simultaneous employment of the Six Arts did not have any semblance of a chaotic display but rather, they congregated together and formed a powerful wave of attack. It was so powerful that it gave off an aura that even the wave of time would not be able to sweep away.
At this moment, it was as if the millions of Confucianist Disciples and their wisdom and character were all one with him, building up his aura and supporting him with their powers.
It was simply unstoppable!
In the face of an imminent blow, Zhu Yi’s characters were trembling as his essay was on the brink of collapsing. It was unable to continue with its writing.
The bystanders outside of the Hidden Dragon Gorge might or might not be able to comprehend the origins of Jiao Junchen’s power but they could definitely feel its unstoppable power as their poor souls trembled at its sheer might.
Even the Nascent Soul stage grandmasters that were present were doubting themselves. Their hearts skipped a beat as they questioned themselves if they could handle a blow of this attack.
Only the cultivators who had attained the middle level of the Nascent Soul stage could keep themselves composed in the face of such an attack. But nevertheless, a serious look hung on their faces as they studied the power of this attack.
Song Qingyuan kept his gaze on the Hidden Dragon Gorge, "It seems like Jiao Junchen is still a notch better than Zhu Yi. Zhu Yi is probably set to lose. The Celestial Sect of Wonders will clock a defeat."
At this moment, he was both solemn and regretful at the same time.
Although he had credited most of Jiao Junchen’s ability to combine celestial confucianist powers and his own powers to Zhu Yi’s continuous retaliations, Song Qingyuan had now become unsure if he himself could fight against the Jiao Junchen who had just laid out all his cards.
At the same time, Song Qingyuan felt disappointed that the person who was about to break the clean record of Celestial Sect of Wonders was not him. It seemed like Jiao Junchen was destined to be the one receiving the honor.
Even Xiao Budian, Yue Hongyan and Yang Qing showed worried faces as they stared at the Hidden Dragon Gorge. The pressure radiating from Jiao Junchen’s attack was simply overwhelming.
"Master!" Yang Qing beckoned as he gazed at Lin Feng anxiously. However, all that he saw was a calm and composed Lin Feng. In fact, a smile played around Lin Feng’s mouth.
Lin Feng looked at his disciples before smiling gently, "Your Second Senior has just won."
When the bystanders heard Lin Feng’s words, they were utterly shocked, Very quickly, they turned their heads back to the direction where all the action was happening. What they saw was a fearless Zhu Yi stepping forward towards the insanely overbearing blow that Jiao Junchen had initiated. There was no semblance of fear or hesitation.
"The development of Humanitarianism was never one that simply stagnate itself in old customs. It never allowed itself to be swept away uncontrollably by the tides of time and change." Zhu Yi continued walking forward with determination and resolute.
As he moved forward, waves and waves of mana energy surged out from his body forming a gigantic altar beneath his feet. The mana was chequered in black and white as blinding white lines and the dark black lines intertwined forming an orbit-like shape that looked as though they were meant for the stars in the heaven.
The altar resembled Mandala yet it looked dissimilar at the same time. Both the light and dark energy had achieved a perfect balance.
Zhu Yi was erected on the altar as he faced Jiao Junchen before reciting, "Building on the past and creating a brand new future. That is the real development of Humanitarianism. That is the true pursuit of the educated in our generation. To seek for the truth!"
With his left hand behind his back, Zhu Yi began to write in the air using his right hand. As the bright and dark characters began to form and dance in the air, the incomplete essay began to form again. Before anyone could react, the first paragraph was done.
Despite only being the introductory paragraph, the formation of the essay had released an incredible amount of energy. Its brilliance could outshadow the brightest sun or moon but its strength was not overbearing. It did not radiate any bit of malicious intent or viciousness. However, everyone present could not help but felt the urge to bow down in awe.
In contrast with the fiery rage and aggression exhibited by the normal combative and fighter-style cultivators, Zhu Yi’s essay radiated culture and wisdom as his spirit and character permeated every single character.
At this moment, all of the culture that he had within him were all exhibited and displayed in its most brilliant form. The sheer pressure from the radiating wisdom did not allow Jiao Junchen to budge forward.
Jiao Junchen’s flair in the Arts congregated above his head to form a pillar of brilliance which shot up straight to the ceiling of the heaven. It was dense as countless characters surged out from the pillar to form an amazing essay.
Meanwhile, Zhu Yi continued to release all the wisdom and culture which he had accumulated and suppressed within himself as it flooded his surroundings like in an immensity which was comparable to the sea.
Everyone who came into contact with the aura of wisdom could immediately gained insights and acquire the knowledge of our ancestors. Anyone could gain enlightenment even for their deepest worries or concerns.
The essay formed by the characters made of the intricate weaving of dark and bright lines collided heavily with the Six Arts summoned by Jiao Junchen. It was not a very violent collision and did not possess any loud or deafening noises. It was simply a one-sided affair!
Jiao Junchen looked up at his hundred meters tall figure peacefully as it slowly crumbled down.
He relaxed his control over his mana as he put his hands together in front of his chest and bowed to Zhu Yi. "Thank you for showing me the way. You have edged me out by showing me your ambitions to educate and enlighten the masses. Your ability to merge your knowledge and skills are also astounding and worthy of much respect. I have lost."
Zhu Yi did not reveal any looko of haughtiness and instead returned the bow with another in an extremely solemn manner. "My achievements in the future will never be without your help and guidance today."
Outside of the Hidden Dragon Gorge, a small group of people fell into deep thoughts after hearing the conversation between Zhu Yi and Jiao Junchen.
After watching their battle, they had managed to acquire some insights on breaking their own training bottleneck, despite not understanding most of it.
Lin Feng and the other elders had witnessed everything as they remained silent.
They all knew that the brighter ones in their individual sects were going to reap tons of benefits from this battle.
Lin Feng was exceptionally pleased as he knew that his people would definitely have gained something from this observation of the battle. From Xiao Budian and Yue Hongyan’s eyes, he could see that there was a glimmer of brilliance, indicating the insights which they had gained.
Yang Qing’s mana was also surging as the aura sea within him became violent. On top of his spiritual altar, a faint crucible was forming. It appeared that the enlightenment form watching the battle had initiated the advancement to the final level of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Lin Feng took notice of this and suppressed this advancement immediately. He allowed Yang Qing to take over the suppressing and terminated the consolidation of the crucible.
Yang Qing regained consciousness and looked at Lin Feng. Lin Feng spoke plainly, "You have the foundation of both the Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams and the True Understanding of the Grand Moon right now. The time will only be ripe after you have mastered and comprehended the next mantra which I am about to impart ot you."
"Thank you for your timely reminder, Master!" I must have been too impulsive." Yang Qing recalled as he nodded his head in much embarrassment. "I will continue to train hard and build a strong foundation. I shall not take the shortcut again."
Lin Feng laughed, "Silly lad, don’t be too hard on yourself. I am more than happy to see how quick you are picking up things."
Yang Qing smiled back in return after hearing his master’s words. Lin Feng turned to look at Zhu Yi, "Today might not be your day to breach the gap to attain the final level of the Foundation Establishment stage. But Zhu Yi has accumulated sufficient wisdom and experience and is now ready to open the door which had barred him from advancement."
Lin Feng spoke to Shi Zongyue, "Prince Anliang, I have something which I would need your help with."
A complicated expression surfaced on Shi Zongyue’s face as he gazed at the Hidden Dragon Gorge. He let out a long sigh before replying, "I guess that would help to round off the event. I wouldn’t mind helping you."
The Vivant Joy Holy Man and the Gambling Holy Man both remained in silence as they gazed at the Hidden Dragon Gorge. Both of their faces revealed a plethora of complex emotions which were boiling inside them.
The other Immortal Soul stage elders also shared different expressions as they all remained focus on the Hidden Dragon Gorge.
The Blue Pavilion Holy Man had a gentle smile on his face while complex expressions were donned by Prince Xian of the Left as well as the Sun Radiance Swordmaster.
The Lord of the Heaven Lake Sect, Cao Wei gently frowned while Huo Xiu and the Supreme Radiance Swordmaster remained expressionless.
Meanwhile, Zhu Yi sat down and crossed his legs within the Hidden Dragon Gorge. He was surrounded by streaks and streaks of mana energy as they dashed around him above the altar formed from the Great Boundaries of the Celestial Light and Darkness Mandala.
The voluminous amount of spiritual energy within the Hidden Dragon Gorge was being absorbed by Zhu Yi greedily under Shi Zongyue’s permission. The Hidden Dragon Gorge was cooperative as it simply allowed the spiritual energy to flow as it wished, instead of obstructing its flow.
Inside Zhu Yi’s body, the aurous core was split into two regions of bright and dark. One half of it was emitting a blinding light while the other half was as dark as it could get. The bright and dark regions rotated among themselves as the aurous core remained quiet and peaceful.
Out of a sudden, an extremely loud sound could be heard. A fearsome Yin fire burst into flames beneath his feet. The fire moved across his body rapidly and finally stopped its movement after reaching the aurous core.
The confused masses outside of the Hidden Dragon Gorge gaped at the sight of this. All the Foundation Establishment stage cultivators were still very much confused as they were not familiar with the processes in the Aurous Core stage. On the other hand, the Aurous Core stage and Nascent Soul stage cultivators were utterly shocked with how impulsive Zhu Yi was to attempt to tackle the tribulations of the Yin Fire after such an intense battle with Jiao Junchen.
To advance to the middle level of the Aurous Core stage, one had to make it through the tribulations of the Yin Fire. The Yin Fire would be able to burn away all the impurities within the aurous core, allowing one to ascend the an entire new level of mastery.
However, if one were not able to survive the tribulations of the Yin Fire, one would be instantaneously burnt to ashes. There would be no second try when it came to such critical moments.
Looking at what Zhu Yi was doing, a single thought ran through everyone’s head. "He must be crazy!"
Regardless of one’s background, every cultivator at the initial level of the Aurous Core stage would take utmost precaution when it came to facing the tribulations of the Yin Fire. They would usually ensure that their bodies were in their optimal state before they would dare to tread onto this path of no return. Even if they had their seniors or masters around them, they would still not dare to take their lives lightly.
However, Zhu Yi had actually chosen to try his luck after such a long battle with Jiao Junchen, who was definitely a formidable opponent. Such act was deemed to be extremely outrageous by the many spectators.
Only people like Lin Feng and Shi Zongyue were able to see that the present Zhu Yi was in the best form of his life.
He might have been severely weakened with the amount of mana drained from his body. But when it came to his understanding about Taoism and the control he had over his body, Zhu Yi was in the best condition possible.
In fact, he could not wait for any longer. Every second spent deliberating on whether he should try to push for an advancement would a second wasted.
Hence, Zhu Yi could not bother leaving the Hidden Dragon Gorge and decided to go through the tribulations within the Gorge.
It was both seemingly long and seemingly short before Zhu Yi opened his eyes and revealed a smile that was childlike innocent. Zhu Yi waved his hands as all Eight elements - Heaven, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, Mountain and Pond all congregated around him.
Above the Eight elements, two streaks of energy patrolled diligently as their black and white color intertwined, creating an illusory feeling.
These elements were not a creation of Zhu Yi’s mana. They were created from the extraction and compression of the spiritual energy within the Hidden Dragon Gorge.
The ability to peer through materials and gain insight from simple observations. The ability to communicate with the Heaven and Earth. The ability to extract spiritual energy from one’s surroundings.
These were all evidence that Zhu Yi had successfully overcame the tribulations of the Yin Fire. He had successfully advanced to the middle level of the Aurous Core stage.
In unison, everyone shifted their focus onto Xiao Budian, Shi Xingyun and Song Qingyuan.
The only thing that they really wanted to know badly was who amongst the three of them would be the unlucky one to be up against Zhu Yi.