Chapter 0010-3 – First Time Leaving The Tournament
Translated by: Ken
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
Seeing Reverend Elysian quiet down, Hai Long kept his mouth shut as well and looked around his surroundings watching the clouds speed past them. Feeling the stability of the Azure Spirit Cloud, Hai Long’s blood felt like it was about to boil. Reverend Elysian’s majestic stature really seemed impossible to approach. Hai Long understood that with his level of cultivation, most of the other cultivators in the outside world wouldn’t even bother to give him any heed, not to mention someone so exalted as Reverend Elysian. Nothing else but this divide could make Hai Long crave for so much power to the point where his emotions roared like waves and the internal energy within his body roiled about.
Seeing Hai Long’s change, Reverend Elysian thought it was because he was excited to see the outside world. She said, “Don’t over think things and maintain a calm mind. Otherwise, your cultivation will not be successful.”
Awakened by what Reverend Elysian had just said, Hai Long suddenly thought about the scene he saw when he stopped his meditation training and asked, “Sister G.o.ddess, just recently when I stopped meditating I witnessed a weird scene before me. Have my cultivation gone astray due to the influence of demons?”
Reverend Elysian said, “What kind of scene? While it is common for one to hallucinate when one’s cultivation goes astray, it isn’t uncommon for a person to see something when his cultivation rises. Do describe what you have seen to me.”
Nodding, Hai Long began explaining. “It was like this. The last time I trained for quite an amount of time, I saw a complicated network of intersecting rivers of green that emanated a soft glow when I woke up. The countless rivers intersected in a complicated manner and the greenish water circulated within. But many of those rivers lead to only one destination, which was a large green lake, just like the ‘hundred rivers congregates in the sea’ as described in our Skyheart Technique. Is this a bad thing?”
Reverend Elysian’s eyes opened wide as she looked surprisingly at the lowest ranked disciple of the Cloudlink Sect, speechless.
Hai Long was a little surprised as he breathed in the soft fragrant smell that came from Reverend Elysian’s body and suddenly felt entranced. Reverend Elysian got close to him all of a sudden and caused Hai Long to look down and berate himself for his own lack of self control.
After a few moments, Hai Long couldn’t stand the stiff atmosphere and said, “Sister G.o.ddess, is there anything wrong? Was what I saw a symptom of my cultivation going astray?”
Reverend Elysian stammered as she said, “Don’t tell me you’re a genius? According to what you said, the scene you saw seemed to be a representation of your body’s internal state. But you’re only at the early stage of the Crouching Tiger Realm! How could you be able to see the internal state of your body? This is really astonishing. Know that most cultivators had to reach the Enlightened Stage at the very least to be able to see the flow of internal energy of one’s body! It looks like you’re really something special and gifted!”
Having heard her words, Hai Long suddenly felt relieved and said while he laughed, “I’m glad it was a good omen. Thanks for your explanation, sister G.o.ddess. It really solved one of my worries.”
Reverend Elysian said meaningfully, “Train hard. Who knows if you’ll really become the first immortal after the founder in the Cloudlink Sect one day.”
Hearing about the founder and becoming an immortal, Hai Long felt even more pumped and asked, “Sister G.o.ddess, don’t tell me that within these ten thousand years, no one else had been able to become an immortal? What happened to the senior masters before your generation? Surely they are some that have broken through to the Infallible Realm (不坠境界), right? They couldn’t have died somewhere, could they?”
Reverend Elysian sighed before saying, “While becoming an immortal sounds easy in theory, no one else aside from the Cloudlink Founder has managed to achieve that. If not for the journal he left behind, we wouldn’t even know that he had ascended. We have totally no clue about the world of the immortals. While they were tens or so senior masters before us who have broken through into the Infallible Stage, they are already no more and have not managed to ascend into immortality.”
Seeing Reverend Elysian quiet down, Hai Long felt a twist in his heart and continued, “Why is that? They’ve already reached the Infallible Realm and already have unlimited life. Surely they will be able to break through to the Tribulation Formation Realm, right? That heavenly tribulation really is too much…”
Reverend Elysian laughed and said, “None of us have actually witnessed the heavenly tribulation and we have no idea how bad it really is. But one thing’s for sure, no one from the Cloudlink Sect or the other six sects has successfully broken through, there are only three endings for the ten or so senior masters. You may not have experienced it yet, but training for thousands of years can be really tiring and boring. That’s why when one’s cultivation reaches a certain point, the feeling of boredom gets so intense that even the strongest of wills cannot resist it. You may not believe it, but among those senior masters of the past, half of them had died tortured by boredom and solitude and chose to end their own limitless existence in the end. It was probably because they couldn’t keep their willpower up anymore. That’s why, when we accept disciples, the main criteria we have to look at is their willpower. Enough, you shouldn’t need to ask so much.”
“Suicide? Why are they so stupid? There are so many wondrous things in this world to experience! Even tasting all the delicacies of the world would take quite an amount of time. I really can’t imagine that any person would complain about limitless life. I really can’t find it in me to accept that.” Hai Long originally wanted to say that he didn’t believe it, but he changed his words when he saw Reverend Elysian’s solemn expression.
She only replied softly, “I didn’t believe it myself when I heard my master talk about it. But the reality of the situation is such. I myself am already starting to tire out at living like this. Even though I’ve already reach the Grand Dao Realm, it would still take another one or two thousand years for me to break into the Tribulation Formation Realm. Days like these are really too plain and tasteless. If everyone could be so optimistic like you, then n.o.body would resort to suicide. One of the other two reasons they were not able to ascend is also suicide.”
Hai Long said with a surprised voice, “Why is that so? Is suicide really the end of the path of cultivation?”
Reverend Elysian to the distance and sighed. “That may be so. However, this second type of suicide is also a choice that can be made. At one point of cultivation, we will be able to project our primal soul (元神) and travel the world with it. When those cultivators feel that they may not be able to pa.s.s the heavenly tribulation, they may opt to undergo weapon liberation to avoid having their bodies obliterated by the tribulation. By ending their lives in their flesh and blood body, weapon liberators may be able to control their primal soul with their will. As long as the weapon liberator can find another vessel for their soul before the power of their wills run out, then they will be able to preserve their cultivation in that vessel. As long as they start training in that new body, they will be able to gain more insights in their cultivation and train much faster than normal cultivators. After hearing that you were able to visualize the internal state of your body, I suspect that you may have been instilled with a primal soul of one of the senior masters of the Cloudlink Sect. But, it doesn’t seem to be the case given your cultivation at only the Crouching Tiger Realm.”
Hai Long laughed bitterly and said, “Look at how much of an idiot I am, what kind of master would choose me as their vessel for their primal soul? And I remember sixth uncle-master saying that I wasn’t the most talented person to cultivate out there. I doubt anyone would want someone with a body like me. Weapon liberation sounds good, as long as one got another chance, wouldn’t it be much easier to ascend?”
Reverend Elysian merely smiled and said, “You wish it were that great. Weapon liberation is only one of the many methods to use out there. It is only a last ditch method for one to delay the inevitable heavenly tribulation and it contains many risks. First, no matter whether one was able to find a new vessel for the primal soul after weapon liberation, one’s consciousness and personality would disappear. That means, if I were to give my primal soul to you by means of weapon liberation, you would in effect become the owner of my primal soul and I’ll have no control over you at all. It is very hard for cultivators for us to do something as selfless as this. Additionally, it is important to be able to find a new vessel. If the quality of the vessel is bad, even with the help of the primal soul, the body would not be able to train and become a high ranked cultivator, not to mention ascending into immortality. The worst part is if there are no suitable vessels, then the primal soul will become a drifting spirit when its will runs out and be captured by demonic cultivators who will use the primal soul to fashion demonic instruments. That is one of the fates worse than death itself for us cultivators. Even if a body is found, if it is not compatible, then the primal soul will scatter and kill the incompatible vessel in the process. This is not something cultivators wish to happen as we treasure every single life. In that situation, a cultivator would rather scatter their own primal souls than force themselves on an incompatible vessel. To us, the very mention of weapon liberation strikes fear in our hearts. Maybe I myself would also be faced with such a choice in another two thousand years or so.”