Chapter 245 – The True Path
After spending three months under the sea toughening himself, Shi Hao finally succeeded. To reach the peak of perfection in this stage was an experience that was difficult to put into words. Upon reaching complete spiritualization, one would immediately be able to sense that they had made it.
Spirited light illuminated all things from inside out and outside in, blurring the distinctions between the two. His entire body was in harmony as he sat there cross-legged like a deity. A halo of light surrounded him as he absorbed spiritual force from every direction, merging into his body to forge the true self.
The layer of glistening and translucent light film covering bones and internal organs had shattered and burnt into rays of light before disappearing. A glow made up of essence gurgled out instead, fusing into his flesh, blood, bones and internal organs.
The film of light was no longer necessary. Spirited light was being generated on its own, nourishing every inch of the body; the process was no longer limited to only the surface of the bones.
Shi Hao knew that he had succeeded. The phenomena were identical to the ‘burying of spiritual seed’ and ‘self-generating spiritual lights’ from legends. He had stepped onto the right path.
What he had to do now was to guide the spiritual light and let it nourish the spirited seed, making it take root and sprout. In that way, each symbol inside him would be straightened and carry out the final consolidation
“I’m going to start guiding the spiritual light.” He murmured. Symbols all over his body converged into streams of divine force. These streams then flowed towards his limbs and bones, interconnecting to form a web.
The process was essential to building physical strength. To construct symbols of one’s own was extremely difficult, and humans had been imitating vicious birds and fierce beasts since ancient times. In the later years, they finally invented their own bone texts, allowing them to gradually gain in strength.
At the Spirit Transformation realm, one became qualified to do such things. They could conduct simple construction and guidance of symbols. These abilities were not precious techniques, yet they were even more important. These symbols could provide the body with inexhaustible energy.
Now that he had achieved the spiritualization of the body and reached the peak of perfection. All he needed was to combine the symbols. As long as the symbols he constructed were not too weak, any other defect could be mended now by his spiritual body.
After all, the spiritualization of the body had harmonized his body, making it innocent like a child. All spirit had been fused into one and the self-adjustment could correct the directions of all symbols.
Even so, Shi Hao still hesitated and was pondering carefully without taking action.
A lot of ideas came to him. Suddenly, a resplendent divine light emerged in his mind and he remembered that bone. Things that he could not understand before became crystal clear now, allowing him to gain enlightened and dawning comprehension.
“That’s it, the True Primordial Record. It might give me some inspiration since all types of answers lie within it.” Shi Hao’s eyes were bright with excitement.
The origin of the True Primordial Record was mysterious. After the Willow Deity encountered tribulation and was nearly devoured by tens of thousands of lightning strikes, it descended from the highest of heavens before taking root in the Stone Village. The bright and spotless bone was the only thing it carried with it.
The Willow Deity had warned them sternly that they should never reveal the existence of this bone. If words ever got out, calamity would fall upon them.
The spotless white bone did not contain any precious techniques. There were only some symbols and Illustrations of divine battles, some of which were very profound. Shi Hao was finally able to understand them now. These were the most desireable bone text paths within the Spirit Transformation realm.
Everything within this bone explained from the original source, all which contained unimaginable profundity. It also started with the basics while explaining profound theories in simple terms. There were truly many profound mysteries recorded on it.
Shi Hao flipped through one passage after another, comprehending them with his heart. All of a sudden, symbols started to arrange row after row among themselves to complement the Spiritual Transformation realm.
His skin was glowing, as if a supreme deity had awoken from its slumber. It came to life within his body and was about to carve out its life imprint. It sat cross-legged in mid-air, guarding the body and soul of Shi Hao.
The True Primordial Record contained a multitude of bone texts, with chapter after chapter of writing. Every single chapter contained a perfect answer.
“The simplest and most natural ones were the ones that had been passed down the most. Countless years of trials had proved their validity,” said Shi Hao to himself.
On its own, each symbol was not profound at all. However, combining them as such was like turning the foul and rotten into the rare and ethereal. Arranging them in such a way inside one’s body and evolving them within the Spirit Transformation level was an astonishing achievement in the human world.
“This one belongs to the True Hou clan, this to the Xuanwu clan, this to the Qiongqi clan, and this to the Taowu clan…”
Shi Hao murmured. These passages of symbols were all modest and simple. They contained ordinary patterns of various clans. When put together and formed a chapter of text, they turned into something totally different.
With his study, different combinations appeared. His spiritualized body would autonomously move on its own to continuously rearranging the symbols inside him, which then turned them into resplendent imprints.
With the rearrangement and recombination, various symbols had been adjusted to their optimal position, allowing them to exercise much greater power!
As days passed, he had long lost count of time. Shi Hao was not simply repeating what the passages said, but gained insights on his own as well. He was completely absorbed in a state of studying the dao. After some trade-offs and choices, he had arranged the symbols in a way that was fittest to himself.
This was a joint decision created from both his body and mind. The mind would make its own comprehension, and then the spiritualized body would then test out this ability. After figuring out what worked the best, it would start recombining on its own.
Finally, the symbols inside him were arranged orderly, no longer jumbled up like before. As soon as a flash of an idea emerged, the symbols would flow like water and fuse into his flesh, blood, internal organs and bones. The film was no longer there, as it had become a part of him.
He had finally achieved the spiritualization of the body, reaching the peak of perfection in this stage.
In an instant, Shi Hao felt that his fighting capacity had shot up greatly. The symbols inside him were providing him with unimaginably great power. When they started operating, he felt like an eternal divine furnace was burning inside that provided an unending stream of divine symbols flames.
Shi Hao erupted into the sky straight from the seabed, causing tidal waves to scatter in the sea. He leapt out of the water and looked into the far distance into the magnificent and boundless blue sea. Many cultivators that were staying nearby watched the scene with surprise.
“Another young cultivator has failed. They all think that by obtaining the training methods of Kun Peng and knowing the method it uses to toughen its body, they are then able to repeat it themselves to reach the Kun Peng’s level. They are too naive! Not everyone can become Kun Pengs!”
An elderly cultivator exclaimed while reasoning with the disciples in front of him. Using Shi Hao as an example, he sincerely and earnestly asked his disciples not to imitate Shi Hao.
Shi Hao rubbed his nose and was speechless. He had become a bad example.
“Young man, how was it down there? Was it hot or cold?” Teased a middle-aged man.
“The Cave of the Utmost Yang was warm and comfortable. Of course, I still have no idea what the deepest spot feels like. I’ll go there when I need to cultivate to a higher level,” responded Shi Hao.
“You definitely do not know the meaning of ‘being humble’. Stop your bragging! No less than eight thousand cultivators have gone down in the past three months. They had all been burnt into ashes before even getting near the cave.”
“You’re right. The Abyss of Black Ice has also frozen thousands of creatures. Those who approached have all died inside.”
These people all spoke with a lingering fear.
For the past three months, fights broke out from time to time near the Kun Peng nest. Things were still intense, and in fact, more people had arrived.
At first, the news of the appearance of the Kun Peng nest was limited to those top notch forces. It then spread to various sect-less cultivators and creatures. As a result, various mighty beings had come after receiving the news.
This was especially true for the sea areas and great oceans further away, and even some elders had sneaked in themselves. They were risking their lives to take part in the competition.
The rivalry here had become more fierce. Inside this region, a random creature could very well be a clan leader that descended from a divine mountain, or a sect elder of a sea deity island.
The atmosphere quickly tesed up. Great wars raged fiercely in this area, and the number of mighty ones increased, appearing to be even more powerful.
During this period, several youths had made names for themselves. Their matchless braveness were like sea and war deities that had been reborn into this sea.
It was said that many beyond the Spirit Transformation level had died at their hands. They were absolutely invincible and peerless in this level, and had the deities been reborn here, it was likely that they could not have done better.
“Yi?”
Shi Hao was surprised. After coming out of the sea, the Kun Peng nest seemed different. Through the blurry mist, the ancient nest was completely golden. It then sent out ripples that looked like the condensation of symbols.
What was happening? He was amazed.
It was weird beyond common sense. He felt like some kind of great secret might be hidden within it, and so he quickly left the crowd. He walked on the ocean surface towards a peaceful region to watch carefully.
Shi Hao wholeheartedly observed the giant nest, watching it as it changed from golden to jet black. Trails of symbols rose from it before branding themselves into the air.
Finally, he recognized some secret texts. These were some incomplete segment of the primitive symbols, belonging to the — Kun Peng!
The discovery shocked him. How could this be? It was too peculiar. Symbols were flying out of the nest, forming the prominent shape of a Kun Peng
How could this happen? Were the precious techniques coming out by themselves?!
The devilish brat looked around to see the reaction of other people. He wanted to know if the others were also watching this. To his surprise, they all acted as if nothing was there, paying absolutely no attention.
To prove this, he caught a few creatures and asked how they felt about it. The answer was always the same, with no one feeling a thing.
In this instant, Shi Hao was full of excitement. He speculated that in order to obtain the Kun Peng precious techniques, one needed to travel the path it had walked in order to get closer to it!
“That’s it. It was said that those who had opened ten heavenly passages could find the way to the forbidden land and obtain the divine power of one of the vicious ten. It seems that the rumour has another explanation.”
The devilish brat understood things well and figured it out instantly.
The Kun Peng was choosing its disciples and inheritors. Ten heavenly passages were only the beginning. The nest contained the experience and training method of its youth, which were obviously pointing at a cultivation path.
To walk its path was the only way to obtain its techniques.
“When the rumors spread that only those with ten heavenly passages could open up the route, it did not necessarily mean a physical route, but rather the way to the Kun Peng’s precious technique. It is a road that isn’t tangible.”
That would be the real road. After realizing this, Shi Hao calmed down and focused on his exploration.
The symbols looked different different depending on where it was being observed from. Sometimes, a shadow of the Kun Peng would appear and soared in the sky, allowing him to obtain some simple techniques. After several days, he was becoming increasingly solemn and respectful.
He kept changing locations, and each new place would offer him something different which delighted him greatly.
During the next half month, he had learned something new everyday. Although he had not found the real Kun Peng precious techniques, these findings still pleased him quite a bit.
“No, I’m not the only one that knows this secret. Others seems to have noticed as well. Those people who have come with bone pieces, scales, and feathers of the Kun Peng must have realized it as well!”
That day, Shi Hao frowned.
“You are not going anywhere this time!” A familiar voice sounded. His cold eyes were yearning to kill, and some experts helped him surround this sea area.
“It’s you, again. Don’t run away this time.” Shi Hao turned around, and when he saw that the green-haired youth had come at him again, his face became stern.
The devilish brat was invited by them to come here and explore the Kun Peng nest. When danger their way, they not only refused to save him, but even tried to kill him when he was down.
The green-haired youth provoked him time and again afterwards, trying to kill Shi Hao on each occasion.
As the saying went, three strikes and you were out. Shi Hao had enough of him a long time ago.
After the spiritualization of the body, he indeed needed someone to try his hands on, and the green-haired youth was the perfect target. This time, Shi Hao could truly feast on a pure-blooded creature.