Chapter 494 "Travel"
"The Human World? Is this name related to the 'Worldly World' realm? Why is it the name of a mural that should only be contemplated after advancing to the Heavenly Human Realm?"
Zhao Duan did not hide his doubts and asked Zhenbao.
On the small building, the night was as dark as ink, closing in from all directions. The palace maids and servants were isolated outside. On the third floor of the restaurant, which had been ravaged by wind and rain for six hundred years, only the hexagonal palace lanterns in the hands of the emperor and his minister emitted an orange-red halo.
Xu Zhenguan stopped with the lantern in hand, thought for a moment, and shook his head.
"I don't know either. Taizu has always had a certain method for naming people."
Are you trying to say that Old Xu is terrible at naming? Well, I should have known that. After all, the murals carrying the legacy of the "God of War" are all painted like "stick figures"... You can't expect him to come up with good names... Zhao Duan was furiously making up stories about the Xu family's ancestors.
"As for why I want you to see two levels in one night... it's because you're special," the Empress seemed to see through his confusion and offered an answer.
"You are extremely compatible with my royal family's cultivation method. Whether it's the dragon soul choosing to reside in you, or your rare visualization of Pei Niannu in the Six Chapters Sutra, these are all unprecedented in the past six hundred years.
So, I was thinking, maybe if I let you see the higher-level murals earlier, maybe they would be different from others."
Zhao Duan was silent. He once again remembered what Zhang Yanyi had said about his “specialness”.
Obviously, as the distance between the emperor and his subject narrowed to a negative number, the empress became more and more concerned about the peculiarities of her "imperial husband".
"Two questions," Zhao Duan held up two fingers. "First, what happens if we see the scroll of the next realm in advance? There must be a precedent."
Xu Zhenguan nodded slightly:
"You will fail in your visualization. Only when you reach a certain level can you visualize the corresponding painting. Otherwise, you will fail."
"The second question is, since we are going to test it, why don't we check the fifth floor as well?" Zhao Duan raised his doubts.
Xu Zhenguan raised his head and looked at the top floor of the restaurant.
The fifth level should correspond to the realm of "human immortal".
She shook her head and said:
"There's no scroll on the stone tablet on the fifth floor; it's a blank tablet. Emperor Taizu never ascended to the human realm, so naturally, he couldn't leave behind a scroll on the fifth floor. However, he placed a blank tablet on the top floor, perhaps hoping that if any of his descendants ascended to the heavenly realm, they could complete the inheritance."
Is that so… Zhao Duan nodded slightly, stepped forward happily, handed the lantern to his left hand, pressed his right hand on the door, and pushed it open: "Then let's get started."
He was also looking forward to this experiment.
The sharp, old door was opened, and the darkness in the room was quickly dispelled by the lanterns in the hands of the two people.
A stone tablet was displayed alone in the center of the room, with two cushions placed on the ground in front of it.
There are faint and fuzzy inscriptions on the stone tablet, but it is difficult to distinguish the content.
“Huff—Huff—”
The empress in white put her fingers together like swords, pulling them into the air.
Immediately, the palace lantern in her hand burst into life with a crackling sound, and a long dragon of flames rushed out from the palace lantern cover, circled the room, ignited the extinguished floor-standing candlesticks in the room, and then returned to the palace lantern.
On the lampstand, white candles were burning, lighting up the room like daylight.
Zhao Duan looked at the empress's micromanipulation with envy, then looked away and looked at the stone tablet curiously:
"What is the content of this 'Big Dream Scroll'?"
Xu Zhenguan explained:
"As the title suggests, contemplating this painting will lead you to a 'big dream,' in which you experience another life that seems indistinguishable from reality. However, that life took place approximately six hundred years ago, during the time of Emperor Taizu.
Every person who meditates has a different identity and experiences in their dreams. After waking up, that is, after each meditation practice ends, everything that happened in the dream will quickly become blurred, with only a few vague memories remaining. However, the martial arts and techniques learned and mastered in the dream will be inherited after waking up.
What kind of ancient life simulator is this? Zhao Duan marveled at it.
Old Xu is really interesting. Each of his paintings is a new way of playing.
Xu Zhenguan paused briefly and continued:
"However, it's hard for me to guess what will happen to you. After all, your state after entering the world is significantly different from that of others."
Zhao Duan retracted his gaze and turned to look at her: "Your Majesty, are you talking about Pei Niannu?"
Xu Zhenguan nodded:
"Others in the Divine Chapter Realm will visualize an ancient being from the Six Chapters Sutra as their 'master'. After entering the Secular Realm, this ancient being will gradually merge with their own self. For example, Tang Jinzhong has not yet merged with them, so when fighting, the Buddha General he visualized will appear.
But as cultivation deepens, like me, like Eunuch Hai... they will be completely integrated. At that time, the 'ancient being' visualized will completely disappear, shrinking into the Qi Sea Dantian, becoming a prototype of a god in the warrior's 'divine furnace', and its appearance will become more and more similar to the practitioner himself..."
In the practice of this world, the worldly realm is a major watershed.
After a sorcerer enters the human world, he will become closer and more in tune with the "god" he is cultivating.
After a warrior enters the world, the qi sea in his dantian will change and become called the "divine furnace". The martial arts energy in the qi sea will turn into a state like an illusory flame, like a blazing furnace fire, penetrating the sea of consciousness and the soul, refining both the body and the mind.
The Yu Kingdom's Taizu embraced both systems. In the "Martial God" system, the ancient beings visualized in the Six Chapters Sutra would first possess the body and then sink into the "Divine Furnace"...
In this way, as a warrior, the martial arts you perform will have additional magical effects, but martial arts will still be the main focus.
The sword energy similar to that of others is just sword energy.
The sword energy of the Martial God Path cultivator carries an additional layer of magical damage...
"But you are particularly special. After Pei Niannu descended from the sky, he shared your body, and you mastered martial arts and magic at the same time... This is unheard of. Therefore, I am not sure what path you will take in the future." Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, his eyes somewhat resentful.
As the empress, Zhen Bao was unwilling to admit that she was a little jealous of a sorceress who had been dead for six hundred years...
Zhao Duan looked aggrieved: "I didn't expect it to turn out like this..."
He was not worried about his own cultivation for the time being. The further he progressed, the more difficult it would be to advance, and he didn't know how long it would take him to become a celestial being.
You can slowly explore...
"Well, you try to visualize. It won't take too long for the first time. I will protect you." Xu Zhenguan turned his head away, his white clothes fluttering, and sat on a cushion by himself, ignoring him.
I thought to myself: Xu Zhenguan, oh Xu Zhenguan, you are an emperor, a great man, how can you be as ignorant of the overall situation as an ordinary woman?
No, you shouldn’t.
Zhao Duan hesitated for a moment, but still sat down cross-legged on another cushion and tried to visualize the "Great Dream Scroll".
The candlelight flickers and the night is quiet.
In a daze, the familiar feeling of falling asleep came over Zhao Duan. His eyelids closed heavily and he felt his body sinking.
My consciousness gradually drifted away from the current world, and I heard the sound of wind, as if falling from a high altitude.
…
Zhao Duan heard a woman's shrill scream, followed by shouts of "pull harder" from other people. He felt himself sinking into the water, and the sounds he heard were blocked.
The warm and moist force around him continued to accumulate, causing him to sink... He wanted to open his eyes, but he couldn't.
After an unknown amount of time, he felt a strong hand grab his ankle and pull it hard.
"Wow!"
Like a drowning man being pulled out of the water, he breathed deeply and cried uncontrollably.
The midwife's joyful voice came to my ears: "It's born! It's born!"
A few days later, when Zhao Duan finally opened his eyes, he saw the smiling faces of a young couple.
And the slightly shabby houses, whose roofs and beams were filled with straw by the lower-class people.
He went back six hundred years to the end of the previous dynasty "Qiguo", the first year of Tianshou.
Born in a village somewhere in the Central Plains, his parents are a simple farming couple.
"Is this the 'Big Dream Scroll'? Experiencing another life?" Zhao Duan lay in the cradle in amazement, looking at the world.
He found that his mind was still clear, but all his strength had disappeared, as if he had traveled through time again.
I don’t know if it’s because of the big dream or because the baby’s brain capacity is insufficient and needs a lot of sleep, but the following time is jumpy.
Many days passed in the blink of an eye, and my memory became fragmented.
He witnessed his first month of life, called out "Mom" for the first time, stood up and learned to walk for the first time... and ate for the first time...
This experience was incredibly wonderful, leaving him feeling incredibly fresh. When he was bored, he'd think, if this were to happen in a novel, it would be a book called "From Infancy to Becoming a Martial God"...
It seemed like six years had passed in the blink of an eye, and he had grown from a baby into a child.
Perhaps because of the dream, his name here is still "Zhao Duan".
As Zhao Duan grew up, his wisdom and maturity, which far exceeded his peers, were gradually noticed by the adults.
After he casually copied a poem one day and was "astonished" by the old teacher in the town school, the young Zhao Duan was awarded the title of "child prodigy".
The old teacher from the school came with gifts and made crazy promises, successfully taking Zhao Duan away. He then traveled around the surrounding towns, showing off his talents beyond his peers and making a profit...
After getting the script of The Story of Zhongyong, Zhao Duan lost interest and ran home to explain the whole story to his parents. When the old teacher came to his house again, his father in this life picked up a pickaxe and chased him across half the village, beating him.
"Alas, it's so lonely, cold, and desolate... No, to describe it more poetically, it should be..."
Young Zhao Duan sat at the window, resting his chin on his hand, watching the scene of his "father" beating the old teacher outside the village. His young face was full of maturity that was not in line with his age.
He picked up a brush and wrote a flirtatious chapter title on the latest title of the novel, which was handwritten on yellowed, low-grade paper:
[A boy as lonely as fireworks]
Then, he put down his pen, glanced at the novel he had made up to kill time, and sighed softly on his face:
"This Great Dream Scroll won't really make me a mortal for the rest of my life, right? No matter how hard I try, I can't sense the vital energy of heaven and earth. Even a mortal body can't enter..."
"Old Xu wouldn't have made up such a boring scroll about transformation into a mortal, so... according to the routine, I'm already six or seven years old, so I should have changed..."
Just as he was thinking, Zhao Duan suddenly saw the raindrops drifting outside the window.
Outside the village, a mysterious woman wearing a red dress, a "silver" mask on her face, a weighing rod inserted on her waist, a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat came.
It broke the tranquility of the small mountain village.
Pei Niannu floated straight into the courtyard, looking over the window at the confused child inside.
Under the mask, the willow-like eyebrows raised:
"Are you the child prodigy that the rumors say? Are you willing to practice with me?"
Zhao Duan was stunned. He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the thick stack of novel manuscripts on the table beside him. He seemed to see two big blood-red words:
Please update!
Immediately, there was a strong dizziness and the dream quickly collapsed.
…
On the third floor of the old building, on a cushion in front of the stone wall.
Zhao Duan suddenly opened his eyes, gasping for breath, with beads of sweat on his forehead.
"What's wrong? It seems that your dream is not peaceful." The soft voice of the empress came from the side.
Zhao Duan adapted to the candlelight and turned his head to look at the fairy-like empress in white beside him. Xu Zhenguan's face was full of inquiry.
"I don't know how to put it. I can't remember the details, but it was undoubtedly a nightmare." Zhao Duan pondered for a moment and answered.
Nightmare? Xu Zhenguan frowned slightly, then relaxed and said with a smile:
"When I first entered the Great Dream Scroll, it was also a nightmare. But I got used to it later."
She didn't ask too many questions about the specific content of Zhao Duan's dream. Firstly, although there was a negative distance between the two of them, it was still a matter of personal cultivation, so it was not a good idea to ask too thoroughly.
Husband and wife have their own privacy.
Secondly, as usual, it is indeed difficult to remember the details after waking up from a dream.
However, she didn't know that Zhao Duan remembered everything that happened in the dream clearly and had not forgotten a single thing.
"Why did Pei Niannu appear in my dream? Yes, the Great Dream Scroll is a sequel to the Six Chapters Sutra, so the connection is very reasonable... So, in this Sims game set six hundred years ago, the character I play is Pei Niannu's disciple?"
Zhao Duan pondered in his heart and felt a strong sense of anticipation.
He was a little curious about how real this dream from six hundred years ago was, and how it compared to the "Picture of the God of War"?
Can we use this picture to explore the secrets related to "Tianshu's Destruction of Buddhism" and "Mubei Forest"?
"Is that so? That's good." Zhao Duan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled:
"It seems that the visualization of the third level is going smoothly."
"You have already entered the world, so there will naturally be no problem." Xu Zhenguan glanced at him suspiciously with her beautiful eyes. A woman's sixth sense told her that there was something wrong with Zhao Duan's nightmare.
"Ahem, it's getting late. I'll go to the fourth floor and take a look." Zhao Duan stood up guiltily, picked up the lantern, and saw that the candle was much shorter, which meant that the visualization just now took quite a while.
“…Alright.”
Although Xu Zhenguan was suspicious, he still said "yes" softly, stood up, picked up the exquisite palace lantern with his delicate hands, led him out, climbed the stairs, and reached the fourth floor.
When I opened the door, the scene on the fourth floor was nothing special.
There was still only a stone wall in the house and a cushion in front.
Xu Zhenguan followed suit and lit the candles in the room. Zhao Duan discovered that the stone wall was dotted with star-like "light spots".
Those light spots are connected by lines, like a net, which is also highly abstract.
Damn... Did Old Xu learn from Picasso? So abstract? Zhao Duan grumbled inwardly.
"This painting is 'The Human World,' and it's the scroll for meditation and cultivation after reaching the celestial realm. I've already reached the celestial realm before, and I've repeatedly contemplated this painting, but I couldn't comprehend it. Now that my cultivation has improved, perhaps I'll see a different perspective when I look at this painting again."
Xu Zhenguan's expression fluctuated. Under the light, she seemed to be eager and eager to make a move, with her eyes shining.
Zhao Duan asked curiously:
"Your Majesty, were you unable to comprehend it before? Then, with my current state, I'm afraid I won't be able to successfully visualize it at all."
"It's okay. We're just giving it a try tonight. Failure is normal." Xu Zhenguan gave him an encouraging look.
"Okay... tell me, what is the content of this painting "The World"? Tell me in more detail so that I can be prepared." Zhao Duan asked.
Xu Zhenguan hesitated, confusion in his eyes:
"It seems like a strange world. I cannot understand it. It is difficult to describe. If you can successfully visualize it, you will naturally understand."
You've piqued my curiosity... Zhao Duan was eager to try, rubbing his hands, and sat down on the cushion, cross-legged in meditation:
"Your Majesty, protect me."
As he spoke, he calmed his breath, stared at the painting "The World", and tried to enter a meditative state.
After a moment, he closed his eyes, and the familiar feeling of weightlessness came over him. He seemed to be in the sky again, falling thousands of feet into the air.
"Is it possible?"
Zhao Duan suppressed his excitement and tried his best to open his eyes, and then he really opened his eyes in a state of visualization.
In the field of vision, it seemed to be night, with thick clouds below, and I was falling to the earth like a meteorite.
However, the sky below the clouds seemed extremely bright, as if countless stars dotted the earth, vast and magnificent.
"How is that possible? At this altitude at night, even in the capital, there wouldn't be much light..."
Zhao Duan was full of doubts, but the next second, he tore the clouds apart completely with a "whoosh". The clouds in front of him quickly dispersed, revealing a prosperous metropolis.
Under the night sky, the urban area is as bright as circles of light bands. On the ring road, traffic flows continuously, and the tall buildings in the city are like sharp swords piercing the sky.
On the city streets, countless people dressed in urban clothes, like ants, were moving in and out of the buildings, and countless riders were speeding along...
Zhao Duan felt as if his head was hit hard by a stick, and his mind went blank!
With eyes wide open, he stared blankly at the city in his pupils rapidly expanding. He continued to fall and finally appeared above a solemn and majestic building.
Only a few windows in the compound were still lit.
At this moment, in an office.
"Zhao Duan", who died suddenly due to staying up late to prepare a speech for his leader for the next day's meeting, lay quietly in front of the computer desk, motionless.
No one pays attention.
Only the computer screen cast a pale blue light.
Suddenly, the dead "Zhao Duan" moved his fingers, and then...
He slowly climbed up from the table, his eyes, which had been open to death, regained their focus...
Glory!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
