txolops Chapter 196 Refining the Origin, Inner Demon Transforms into Wind
Chapter 196 Refining the Origin, Inner Demon Transforms into Wind
Chapter 196 Refining the Origin, Inner Demon Transforms into Wind
The night wind was chilly and biting.
On Changqing Peak, the back mountain of Liuyun Sect, purple bamboos swayed in the cold wind, their leaves rustling as they rubbed against each other.
A crescent moon hung in the mid-sky, its cold light spilling onto the bluestone steps, giving them a pale, frosty appearance.
Inside the secret room, Gu Yan sat cross-legged on a cold futon.
Outside the stone gate, Shen Youwei was activating all the mountain-sealing formations of Changqing Peak as he had instructed.
It was publicly announced that the leader of the alliance had suffered unimaginable backlash from the Heavenly Dao in order to maintain the Heavenly Star Chart, and had to go into seclusion to recuperate, during which time no one was allowed to disturb him.
Those old monsters from Dongzhou who had just escaped death on the border battlefield and burned their lifespans, upon hearing this news, not only did they not have any doubts, but also sent a large batch of precious life-extending elixirs.
Gu Yan ignored the gratitude expressed by the outside world.
His current physical condition has indeed reached a dangerous point.
It wasn't because of a backlash, but because I ate too much.
Nine top Nascent Soul cultivators from the Eastern Continent burned their lifespans, essence, and the foundation of their sect's heritage without reservation within the ultimate killing formation.
This enormous and outrageous energy was secretly absorbed by Gu Yan into his dantian through the earth's veins.
Using this power, Gu Yan's cultivation broke through the barrier of the late Nascent Soul stage with unstoppable momentum.
But this force is too mixed.
The true meaning of Tai Chi, as taught by Zhou Chongyue, the Grand Elder of the Cangxuan Sect, is balanced and harmonious, emphasizing the harmony of Yin and Yang, and adhering to strict rules.
The Annihilation Sword Qi of Mo Tianwen, the Grand Elder of the Guixu Sect, was incomparably sharp, carrying with it the deathly stillness that could destroy everything.
The ancient demonic power of the elders of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain is violent and savage, filled with the most primal instinct to devour.
The life-giving medicinal properties of the elders of Medicine King Valley were continuous and gentle, like a spring breeze and rain, forcefully stimulating life.
These four distinct and mutually exclusive supreme origins are like four peerless ferocious beasts locked in the same iron cage, constantly fighting fiercely in Gu Yan's meridians and dantian.
Gu Yan closed his eyes, his loose white robe completely soaked with sweat and clinging tightly to his body.
His left cheek radiated a sacred and inviolable pure gold luster, while his right cheek was covered with eerie dark red blood patterns.
Two lights flashed alternately, and with each flash, Gu Yan's body emitted a crackling sound as his bones rubbed together.
"To integrate this power into one's own, brute force alone is not enough; one must completely absorb it in one's mind."
Gu Yan calmly analyzed the situation in his mind.
Every time a cultivator makes a major leap in their cultivation realm, or absorbs an excessively large amount of external laws, they will face a test from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.
This is what is known as the tribulation of inner demons.
Unlike the lightning tribulation which destroys the physical body, the inner demon tribulation targets the cultivator's inherent self-awareness.
Once one loses oneself in inner demons, the nascent soul will disintegrate, eventually leading to demonic possession and turning into a walking corpse with immense power but no substance.
Gu Yan released the suppression of his divine sense.
He actively guided the four distinct primordial forces into his sea of consciousness.
"Boom!"
It was as if a deafening roar, like the beginning of the universe, exploded in my mind.
The scene in the stone chamber quickly faded from Gu Yan's perception.
The cold jade bricks beneath my feet disappeared, and the halo of the luminous pearl above my head vanished.
Even Gu Yan's own body, which had been tempered and refined through countless trials, had vanished without a trace.
Without form, without weight, and without the names Gu Changsheng and Blood Swordsman.
Gu Yan discovered that he had turned into a gust of wind.
A wind that was born in the wilderness before heaven and earth were separated, in the beginning of chaos.
The wind has no eyes, yet it can perceive everything in the world.
He blew across the vast land.
There are no cities, no sects, and no aloof cultivators here.
There are only endless primeval forests and desolate Gobi deserts.
The wind blew forward, and he saw a group of people who were barely clothed.
These humans were very small and weak, shivering in the dense bushes, holding rough wooden sticks and polished stones.
Before them stood an ancient, ferocious beast, its size resembling a small mountain.
The ferocious beast was covered in black scales, its eyes were like burning cages, and the saliva dripping from its mouth corroded the rocks, creating deep pits.
Humans can only tremble in fear before ferocious beasts.
The ferocious beast let out a deafening roar, and its enormous claws slammed down, instantly turning more than a dozen humans into minced meat.
The remaining humans let out desperate screams and scattered in all directions.
The wind blows across this bloody battlefield.
Gu Yan sensed a heavy, wild, and indomitable power carried in the wind.
This is the ancient demonic power of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.
In that most ancient era, there was no such thing as morality or righteousness; there was only the purest form of survival of the fittest.
In order to survive, humans began to imitate those powerful monsters.
They drank the blood and ate the flesh of demonic beasts, sealing their souls within their own bodies.
The wind watched all of this quietly.
He saw generations of humans die in the baptism of blood and fire, and newborns be born in camps piled with animal bones.
Gradually, warriors emerged among humans who could capture tigers and leopards with one hand.
Beast-like totems grew on their bodies, and their eyes became as cold and cruel as those of ancient demons.
Ancient demonic power surged within Feng's body.
This force is questioning Gu Yan.
Isn't the truth of this world the most primal form of consumption?
Only by consuming beings weaker than yourself can you survive and become strong.
Humans rose to power by relying on the strength of demonic beasts, but in the end they drove the demonic beasts to extinction and occupied this land.
This is the essence of survival; strip away all pretense of virtue, and what remains is only naked bestiality.
The wind did not answer.
He simply continued to blow forward.
Time, under his influence, flew by like a fleeting moment.
I don't know how many millennia have passed.
Human tribes began to expand, and they built simple houses and learned to cultivate crops and raise livestock.
However, the threat to survival has not disappeared.
The wind blew through a large village.
The village was deathly still, with corpses lying everywhere.
There were no monsters attacking them; what killed them was something unseen: a plague.
People were covered in sores, had persistent high fevers, and breathed their last in extreme pain.
Strong warriors are useless in the face of disease; their proud ancient demonic power cannot stop the invasion of pathogenic evil.
The wind swirled above the village.
He saw a thin old man carrying a tattered bamboo basket walking into the deep mountains.
The old man had no great strength; he simply savored the unknown wild grass, bite by bite.
Some wild grasses made him vomit blood, while others caused him to convulse all over his body.
But he never stopped.
Finally, the old man found a plant with small white flowers.
He crushed the plants, boiled them into a bitter broth, and fed it to the dying.
And then, a miracle happened.
The patient's abscesses began to scab over, and the high fever gradually subsided.
Life has returned to this land.
The wind blew up the white smoke rising from the old man's medicine, which he inhaled.
This is the vital medicinal property of Medicine King Valley.
This force is incredibly gentle, yet so resilient it sends shivers down your spine.
It whispered in the wind, showing Gu Yan the miracle of life.
A tiny, insignificant blade of grass can sever the scythe of death.
Generation after generation of doctors have risked their lives to measure the boundaries between poison and medicine.
Life is both fragile and great.
As long as there is a glimmer of hope, it can grow back like wild grass in the spring breeze.
The vital medicinal properties are attempting to assimilate Gu Yan.
It told the wind that killing and devouring only bring destruction, and that only redemption and healing are the deepest mercy of the Way of Heaven.
To control the life force is to control the destiny of all living beings.
If you were willing to transform into a spring rain, you could revitalize this barren world and earn eternal reverence.
The wind is silent; the wind remains still.
Gu Yan's consciousness was hidden deep within the wind, coldly observing everything.
Whether it was the raging beastly nature or the compassionate effects of the medicine, it was all just fleeting smoke to him.
The wind continues to blow forward.
Crossing mountains and rivers.
Human history has undergone earth-shattering changes.
One after another, majestic cities rose from the ground.
The massive city walls were built of blue bricks, and the city gates were carved with intricate patterns.
Within the city, the roads are laid out in a straight line, like a chessboard.
The wind blew across the wide street, revealing the bustling city life.
There is a strict hierarchy and order here.
The emperor sat on his high dragon throne, issuing orders.
Officials, dressed in robes of varying ranks, governed the local areas.
The people work at sunrise and rest at sunset, following the cycle of spring planting and autumn harvest.
In this world, there is morality, there is law, and there are boundaries between right and wrong.
Scholars, holding books of sages, engaged in lofty discussions about loyalty, filial piety, and propriety.
Immortal cultivators hide in famous mountains and rivers, claiming to be from a prestigious and righteous sect, slaying demons and maintaining peace in the world.
Everything seemed so orderly.
The wind blows through the ornately decorated academies and the bustling Taoist temples.
He sensed the true meaning of Taiji from the Cangxuan Sect and understood what it meant to have one yin and one yang in accordance with the Dao.
The true meaning of Tai Chi slowly unfolds in the wind, transforming into a giant black and white compass.
As the compass turns, everything operates within its rules.
This force is immense, majestic, and inviolable.
It is teaching Gu Yan.
See, this is the power of order.
Savage bestiality has been confined to a cage called morality.
The chaotic vitality was woven into the iron law of birth, aging, sickness and death.
Humans are able to become the most intelligent of all beings precisely because they have established unshakeable rules.
In this system, good and evil are rewarded accordingly, and cause and effect are cyclical.
The true meaning of Tai Chi attempted to pull Gu Yan's consciousness into that black and white compass, making him the maintainer of this vast order.
He was made to believe that the character he played, Gu Changsheng, the Holy Son of the Flowing Cloud Sect, was the one who truly aligned with the Way of Heaven and the ultimate correct path of human history.
If Gu Yan's consciousness wavers even slightly and he accepts this false order, his divine and demonic foundation will immediately collapse, turning him into a puppet of the Heavenly Dao.
The wind stopped in mid-air.
The true meaning of Tai Chi, the vital medicinal properties, and the ancient demonic power—these three forces intertwined in the wind, transforming into three enormous shackles that would firmly lock up this free wind.
however.
Just as this seemingly flawless order reached its peak.
The sky suddenly darkened.
The wind blew through that bustling city, but it couldn't take away a trace of its vitality.
Outside the city walls, the deafening sound of war drums resounded.
Another imperial army, which also possessed order and believed in the Way of Heaven, surged in like a black tide.
In their struggle for more land and more resources, they have abandoned all pretense of warmth and compassion.
Catapults hurled burning boulders into the city.
The sturdy city wall was breached by battering rams.
Elite cavalry stormed into civilian dwellings, killing indiscriminately, regardless of age or gender.
Blood stained the moat, and fire engulfed the ornately decorated academy and the thriving Taoist temple.
The emperor, who was high above all others, had his head cut off by the rebels and hung on a flagpole.
Scholars who spout righteousness and morality, in order to survive, crawl on the ground like dogs and lick the enemy's boots.
Yesterday she was a pampered noblewoman, but today she has become a plaything for soldiers to vent their lust.
Order has collapsed.
The rules have become a joke.
The wind swept through the sea of fire, carrying the smell of blood from the corpses.
He saw a swordsman wielding a long sword.
The swordsman, dressed in a long black robe, stood atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
There was no emotion, no pity, and no anger in the sword cultivator's eyes.
He simply swung the sword in his hand.
A sword fell.
Whether it is a brutal enemy, an innocent civilian, or a sage who tries to reason with rules.
All of them were reduced to dust by this one sword strike.
That was pure destruction.
It is the inevitable end of all things.
This was the Annihilation Sword Qi of the Guixu Sect, as cold as ice, directly freezing the flow of the wind.
The sword energy of annihilation hissed in the wind.
It mercilessly mocked the forces that had preceded it.
What ancient demonic power? It's nothing but a desperate struggle to prolong life.
No matter how potent the medicine or its life-giving properties, they can't withstand the passage of time.
What kind of Tai Chi order is it? In the face of absolute violence, it can only become a laughing stock.
Look carefully.
At the end of this world, there is only destruction, only death, only nothingness.
All prosperity will eventually turn into ruins.
All life eventually returns to dust.
Returning to the void is the final destination of all things.
The sword energy of annihilation transformed into a colossal black sword that seemed to cleave the heavens and the earth, hovering above the wind's head, ready to obliterate the wind, along with Gu Yan's consciousness, into the void of history.
The four fundamental forces.
Bestiality, vitality, order, destruction.
They represent the four ultimate truths of the rise and fall of humanity, which are now converging and taking shape in Gu Yan's inner demon tribulation.
They tightly surrounded the gust of wind that Gu Yan had transformed into.
Choose.
A grand voice echoed between heaven and earth, as if the whole world was pressing Gu Yan for answers.
"Who are you."
Which path do you want to take?
If one chooses the path of bestiality, one will become a monster who only knows how to kill.
If one chooses to live, one will become a weak and easily bullied saint.
If one chooses order, one will be bound by the shackles of the Way of Heaven for life.
If one chooses destruction, one will ultimately perish in the process of destruction.
No matter which option you choose, this is a dead end.
This is the terrifying aspect of inner demons.
It doesn't use monsters to defeat you, but rather it uses the most profound truths of the world to assimilate you.
Under the pressure of those four fundamental forces.
The wind grew weaker and weaker.
It seemed as if it would vanish into nothingness at any moment.
However, just as the black greatsword was about to strike...
The faint breeze suddenly stopped.
A sudden, soft laugh drifted through the air.
The laughter was filled with endless mockery, and an extreme arrogance that seemed to trample all things underfoot.
"You ask me who I am?"
The sound of the wind gradually became clearer, transforming into Gu Yan's gentle yet icy voice.
"The survival of the fittest among ancient monsters is nothing more than the instinct of a brute."
"The healers of Medicine King Valley are nothing but pathetic wretches who wallow in self-pity."
"The Taiji Order of the Cangxuan Sect is nothing but a hypocritical lie woven by the weak to stick together for warmth."
"As for the annihilation and destruction of the Guixu Sect—"
Gu Yan's voice grew louder and louder, exploding in his mind like thunder.
"Even the Heavenly Dao cannot do anything to me, so what is this mere Annihilation? It dares to make me bow my head."
The wind is no longer the gentle breeze that was at the mercy of the four fundamental elements.
He suddenly tumbled upwards.
Between heaven and earth, a colossal phantom of a god and demon slowly emerged in the wind.
The left half of his body shone with golden light, like an ancient Buddha with a compassionate heart, exuding a righteous aura that was more profound than Tai Chi and purer than medicine.
The right half of his body was covered in a sea of blood, resembling a demon slaughtering all living beings, exuding a bloodthirsty demonic power that was more ferocious than a monster and more terrifying than annihilation.
Gu Yan's id consciousness descended at this moment.
He made no choice.
Because he doesn't need to choose.
Gu Yan, transformed into a phantom of a god or demon, opened his arms.
That enormous hand grabbed the black and white compass that represented the order of Tai Chi.
"Rules are set by the strong for the weak, and I, Gu Yan, am the rule of this Eastern Continent."
A snap.
The black and white compass was crushed by the phantom of the god and demon, turning into countless points of light, which were all absorbed by the golden body on the left.
Then, the phantom of the god and demon turned its head and looked at the black giant sword that represented annihilation.
"Destruction is not the end; it is a tool to sweep the chessboard and allow me to rearrange the pieces."
A beam of blood-red light shot from the right eye of the phantom of the god and demon, directly colliding with the black greatsword.
The giant sword let out a mournful cry and shattered inch by inch, before being swallowed whole by the dark red right half of the body.
"As for vitality and demonic power—"
The phantom of the god and demon opened its mouth wide, like a black hole.
It swallowed the white smoke that healed all things, as well as the monstrous phantom of a ferocious beast, into its belly.
"All the rise and fall of this world, whether it be the living or the dead, the righteous path or the demonic path, is just a stepping stone under my feet, Gu Yan."
"I don't believe in God, I don't believe in Tao, I only believe in myself."
As Gu Yan's domineering declaration fell.
Under the frenzied chewing of the divine and demonic nascent soul, the four primordial powers lost all will to resist.
They are no longer lofty laws and truths, but have become the purest nourishment.
The illusion in his mind began to collapse on a large scale.
Primeval forests, mountains of corpses and seas of blood, bustling cities, and ruins.
All the images peeled away like shattered glass.
Gu Yan's consciousness is gradually withdrawing from this magnificent history of the rise and fall of the human race.
He felt his heavy physical body again.
I felt the vast and ceaseless spiritual energy surging through my meridians.
Inside the underground stone chamber of Changqing Peak.
The frigid air was distorted by the intense heat emanating from Gu Yan's body.
Gu Yan sat cross-legged on the dark blue jade bricks, without opening his eyes.
The aura that had been violent and unstable due to absorbing too much mixed power became shrouded in mystery.
He sat there quietly, like an insurmountable mountain or a bottomless pool of stagnant water.
The harmony of Tai Chi, the sharpness of annihilation, the domineering power of demonic energy, and the enduring vitality.
These four extreme qualities are perfectly blended together and hidden beneath his divine and demonic body.
Gu Yan's late-stage Nascent Soul realm has finally stabilized.
But he was eager to emerge from seclusion; he needed to leverage this unprecedented and immense foundation to complete his final transformation.
Once the transformation is complete, he will truly become the number one person below the Nascent Soul stage in this Eastern Continent.
Inside the stone chamber, the light from the luminous pearl was faint and cold.
Gu Yan's breathing became slow, and each breath lasted for an hour.
A faint, blood-gold-colored hard shell began to form on the surface of his body.
Outside the stone gate, time passed day by day.
Inside the stone gate, Gu Yan's seclusion had only just begun.