Half a month later, Su Ming opened his eyes, and a hint of fatigue appeared in his eyes. He looked at the mountain, river and desert before him. He… had not been able to fully understand the meaning of Life behind the three.
He stood up slowly and walked towards the direction from which he had come. When he returned, everything was as normal. He walked past the mountain and arrived at the place where he first stepped out. That was the center of the ninth layer, and it was the exit of this place.
As Su Ming stood at the center of the ninth layer, he let out a sigh. He did not have enough time to continue trying to gain an epiphany within this place. He still had plenty of other things to do. He had to suppress that killing sword as soon as possible and walk out of Eastern Wastelands Tower. He had to check his eldest senior brother"s condition. He had to search for his second senior brother and his Master. He also had to fulfill his oath as the G.o.d of Berserkers and lead the charge to get rid of all the Immortals in the land of Berserkers.
He was in a hurry. The Immortals might descend again at any time now.
Su Ming stood at the center of the ninth layer and spread out his Atman to fuse it with his surroundings. When he did so, golden light filled the area under his feet and surrounded him. That light gradually became stronger. Then, right at the instant it was about to bring Su Ming back to the first layer, he turned his head around with an unwillingness to admit defeat and cast a glance back at the mountain.
Perhaps it was because of the golden light filling the area around him, or perhaps it was the Relocation Rune causing his vision to distort, but when Su Ming turned his head around as his body gradually faded away, he saw something that made his heart roar. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind, allowing him to suddenly be able to understand what was before him!
The first thing he saw when he turned his head around was the tall mountain, and the second thing was that an indistinct layer had appeared in his vision due to the golden light filling his eyes. When he looked at it the third time, the mountain in his eyes started distorting due to the activation of the Relocation Rune.
The fourth and final thing he saw before he left was… the mountain disappearing!
The mountain disappeared. It was as if there was never any mountain to begin with. Su Ming"s gaze shot through the now-empty s.p.a.ce, and he saw the complete river in the sky, which he had previously been unable to see!
There was no mistake to this. Su Ming could remember clearly that a small part of the river had been covered by the mountain when he stood at the center of the ninth layer. It was definitely not complete. Yet now… the river in the sky was complete, and the mountain was gone from his eyes.
His heart roared, and a form of understanding started growing within Su Ming"s heart. His body was already fading away due to the Relocation, but at the instant he was about to disappeared, he lifted his right hand and pushed against the ground. With it, the ground trembled, and the Relocation froze for a moment.
At the instant it froze, Su Ming shot out and charged forward. When he stepped out of the Relocation Rune, his body gathered together above the desert.
He gave up on leaving. When he stood outside the Relocation Rune, he stared at the river, which was no longer obscured by the mountain. In his gaze, the water in the river in the sky was flowing even more clearly now. When the clarity of that water stretched into infinity, a loud bang rang in Su Ming"s head… and that river also disappeared from his sight.
There was no longer any mountain or river in the sky.
Understanding rose in Su Ming"s heart. He started circulating his cultivation base, and it immediately reached the pinnacle of the initial stage of Life Matrix. In fact, he was already not too far away from the middle stage of Life Matrix.
"I understand now… the mountain is still there, and so is the river. They are within my sight, but they"re not in my heart!
"If there is a mountain in my heart, then the mountain will be there. If there is a river in my heart, the river will also be there… That"s why there was no peak to the mountain, and no end to the river… My heart was influencing my eyes!
"My Life Matrix is to walk from death to life. I would move from winter to spring. It is the same as my heart. Because I exist in the state of death and am within winter, my heart is still.
"My heart affects my soul and my eyes. Perhaps they"re affecting each other, that"s why I can"t see through everything, because my heart is dead… but during the instant I left, the Rune had distorted and golden light had covered my vision, causing me to be able to see what I normally could not.
"I understand now, to move from death to life and from winter to spring, I must first make it so that my heart is alive with spirit. I will have to wake up from this state of being still, only by doing so will I be able to see autumn!
"Being alive with spirit… alive with spirit… How can I make it so that my heart is alive with spirit..?"
Su Ming looked as if he had descended into madness as he stood and mumbled to himself. His eyes were filled with a large amount of blood capillaries, and he was staring at the sky without s.h.i.+fting his gaze once. He might not see the mountain and river anymore, but he still did not want to blink. This current state he was in was incredibly precious to him. He was afraid that if he blinked even once, he would wake up from this epiphany.
"The heart can affect the eyes. Then… surely the eyes can also affect the heart. If I want my heart and soul to fill with life and vigor from the state of being still, then the eyes would be able to do this.
"Moving from winter to autumn is a process. The color of autumn is red… Blood is also red… I will make the world turn red, dye it in blood. When everything that I see has become red, then my eyes will affect my heart and make my heart and soul fill with life and vigor. This is the autumn of my life!"
Su Ming lowered his head swiftly and made himself look at the sand on the ground. This sand existed in the form of grain, and when they entered Su Ming"s vision, he started laughing.
"The mountain and river are in my heart. As for the desert… it is formed by an endless amount of sand. Each grain of sand symbolizes a life, and each life symbolizes a cycle of four seasons… That"s why my thoughts are not incorrect. Being born is spring, growing up is summer, blood is autumn, which is the time before death, and death is the coldest day of winter in life!
"Ninth layer, open!"
Su Ming laughed long and hard as he swung his arm. When the ninth layer shook and rumbled, he no longer looked at the mountain, river, or desert. He turned around and took a step toward the center of the ninth layer. When the golden light flashed and the Relocation was activated in the Rune, he disappeared.
When Su Ming disappeared, the ninth layer"s mountain, river, and desert did not immediately crumble like what had happened to the previous eight layers after Su Ming had come to understand them. Instead, as they trembled furiously, they seemed to be hesitating about something, as if Su Ming"s epiphany… was not the meaning behind them.
Not even the first G.o.d of Berserkers, Lie Shan Xiu, had predicted this when he created Eastern Wastelands Tower. He had placed that one mountain, river, and desert in the ninth layer in Eastern Wastelands Tower as a copy of what he had understood of the Immortals" cultivation base for the future generation of his race.
To Lie Shan Xiu, there was only one true answer to this mountain, river, and desert.
When you see the mountain, it is a mountain. When you see the mountain, it is not a mountain. When you see the mountain, it is still a mountain.
When you see the river, it is a river. When you see the river, it is not a river. When you see the river, it is still a river. [1]
This answer was the general outline regarding Domains in the Immortals" cultivation system. It was a law that was formed based on a person"s will. Even Lie Shan Xiu agreed to it wholeheartedly, and once he had come to understand it, he had gained an incredible epiphany from it.
As for the desert that was formed by an endless amount of sand, Lie Shan Xiu had wanted to let his future generation understand that each grain of sand symbolizes a world, and the entire universe is formed this way.
However… the answer and epiphany Su Ming had gained from the ninth layer was completely different from what Lie Shan Xiu had wanted his people to understand. They might not be polar opposites, since they were formed on the same basis, but they were both different sorts of understandings.
That was why the ninth layer hesitated. This hesitation symbolized the conflict between these two types of understanding. One of them was from the Immortals, which was also Lie Shan Xiu"s will, and the other was born from Su Ming himself. It was his own form of understanding. If Su Ming"s form of understanding failed in the conflict between these two, then he would not be considered to have managed to pa.s.s the ninth layer. The ninth layer would also not shatter but would return to normal.
Yet if Su Ming"s form of understanding won, then the ninth layer would shatter.
The hesitation regarding its destruction only lasted for nine breaths before the ninth layer shattered with a bang and disappeared without a trace, just like what had happened to the previous eight layers when someone managed to pa.s.s through them. As it shattered, a wave of power that belonged to Su Ming"s understanding replaced the original meaning contained within the ninth layer. At the same time, as the entire Eastern Wastelands Tower trembled, another light circle appeared outside and spread in all directions with a bang.
The ninth light circle… was blood red!
Its original color should have been white, supposed to symbolize purification and understanding of the heart and soul. It was supposed to symbolize an indifference and detachment after having seen through everything. Yet now, that blood-red light brought with it a murderous aura that surged into the sky. At the instant it reverberated through the sky of Eastern Wastelands, all Berserkers who saw it immediately felt the killing intent within their blood being lit up.
An endless amount of long arcs charged through the world and rushed towards Eastern Wastelands Tower. Some of the ones who were closer had already arrived, and all of them had prostrated themselves outside the blood-red light outside the tower. Zealous expressions and reverence were on their faces as they waited for their G.o.d of Berserkers to walk out of Eastern Wastelands Tower and lead them… to drown the Immortals in their own blood!
It was especially so for Fated Kin. They had arrived a long time ago and were prostrating on the ground on one side of Eastern Wastelands Tower. The zealous looks on their faces surpa.s.sed those of Berserkers. Normal Berserkers were lit with fevered ardor because of their blood and their G.o.d of Berserkers, but they… had descended into a fanatical state because of their Respected Senior Mo, because of Su Ming himself.
That was different. That was absolutely different!
Nan Gong Hen stood at the forefront and looked at Eastern Wastelands Tower. His gaze was calm, but hidden within that calm look was an erupting volcano. He was waiting for Su Ming to walk out, waiting for him to lead Fated Kin and make the galaxy tremble.
As Berserkers charged through the sky and closed in on the tower, Immortal sects within Eastern Wastelands could also sense the ripples and see the light circles from where they stayed holed up. The murderous aura and madness contained within the ninth blood-red light circle was enough to make all Immortals feel their hearts quake in fear.
As the ninth light circle spread out from Eastern Wastelands Tower, it covered the land, the Dead Sea, and started moving towards the Alliance of the Western Region, and also the Northern Province.
The Immortals" sects were not just in Eastern Wastelands either. They were also located in the Alliance of the Western Region. There were some who were located in the Northern Region as well, which was the land that wors.h.i.+ped Fallen Berserkers. At the time the ninth light circle spread through the world of Berserkers, it did not matter whether it was the Alliance of the Western Region or the Northern Province, all the descended Immortals felt their hearts tremble. They could feel the madness that wanted to dye the world red within the blood-red light circle.
Translator"s Note:
1. The thing about the mountains and rivers: It"s talking about the states in a human"s life. There are supposedly three of them.
When you see the mountain, it is a mountain is the first stage. The first stage is in the beginning stages of a human"s life. It is pure and they have only just begun to know the world. Everything is new, and whatever they see, it is the truth. If anyone tells that person something is a mountain, they will believe that it is a mountain.
When you see the mountain, it is not a mountain is the second stage. As you grow up, you will experience more things, and you will discover that there are problems in the world. The more problems you encounter in the world, the more complicated the world will seem. Many of the truths that you know will be turned upside down. The bad people will rule the world, and the good will find it hard to survive. People will start to get cynical and not believe in things so easily. At that time, people will start criticizing the present by saying how good the past is. Then, mountains and rivers will not simply be mountains and rivers anymore, because your view of things has changed. You start questioning your beliefs, and you start wondering whether the things you see are really what they seem.
When you see the mountain, it is still a mountain is the third stage. Since staying in the second stage bears too much suffering, they will start climbing up this metaphorical mountain, which means to train their minds and hearts. At this stage, they will concentrate on doing what they want to do and not compare themselves to others, and since the mind is calm and not bothered by the things in the world anymore, people will find that there is no need for them to adjust their point of view to suit other people"s. At that time, they will feel free to perceive whatever they want in whichever way they want, hence you have: When you see the mountain, it is still a mountain, and when you see the river, it is still a river.