Chapter 295 Tianwen (1)
This time, they used a different method to verify it.
On the first day, Ji Rong read the patterns on his new tree for a day, and on the second day, Qing Pingzi recounted and supplemented them. Then they both rested for a day.
With Ji Rong's dedicated cooperation, Qingpingzi's Hundred Skills Seal neither improved nor worsened.
In her spare time, Ji Rong would chat with Qing Pingzi to ease the tense atmosphere.
But as time went on, Ji Rong was the first to be unable to hold on any longer.
She thought to herself that if things continued like this, the source would be exhausted, and the two of them might not be able to prove a new path. Her eyes darted around, and a plan suddenly came to her.
Instead of painstakingly examining the texture of the tree trunk, she asked Qingpingzi, "Senior brother, you said that Master deduced there are three realms above the Saint Realm. Has she deduced which three realms they are?"
Qingpingzi said, "I don't know, no cultivators have ever traveled this road."
Ji Rong seemed to be thinking, and said, "Senior brother, since it is only Master's deduction, why can't there only be one realm above the Saint Realm and below the Divine Path?"
When I was young, I often had dreams. I once dreamed of immortals who could fly through the sky and escape into the earth, and were omnipotent. They were bound by cause and effect and could not do whatever they wanted.
Although they were like gods, able to act on behalf of Heaven and command the wind and rain, they did not inherit power; their lives were finite, and they would eventually wither and die.
But there are no such immortals here.
Qingpingzi sighed, "Junior Sister's dream is truly magnificent, a world unto itself!"
Upon hearing this, Ji Rong immediately raised her head confidently and said, "That's right, my dream is magnificent!"
Then, Ji Rong told Qing Pingzi about that world where magical artifacts were rampant and cultivators were numerous.
The years have passed, and Ji Rong can no longer remember the specifics. All that remains in her mind are images that, even in their faded state, still deeply move her.
In this scene, there are often things that Ji Rong cannot fully express in words.
So Ji Rong asked Qing Pingzi to dig a jar of fine sand for her. She stomped the sand flat, then used her claws to trace out the fragmented images in her mind and showed them to Qing Pingzi.
Pointing to the paintings drawn with rough lines that required imagination to decipher, she said to Qingpingzi with longing, "Senior brother, in my dream, even ordinary people can rely on the combination of various skills to fly and travel through the earth, transmit thousands of words in an instant, and transcend their native land to go to the stars in the outer heavens."
Those immortals were incredibly tall; few beings in that world were stronger than them.
They no longer relied on bloodline or innate talent for inheritance. In my dream, their knowledge was imparted through books and historical records; they even invented many kinds of intelligent brains.
As she spoke, Ji Rong gestured with her paws to indicate the different sizes of these AIs, saying, "These AIs come in various sizes, and each one carries as much knowledge as your Hundred Skills Seal or the Ancestral Tree within me. Each of them can use these AIs to learn knowledge and become a person of great wisdom and talent, which is very convenient."
"Every single person?" Qingpingzi asked in confusion. "Junior Sister, is the world in your dream filled with people?"
Ji Rong looked at Qing Pingzi's face, then at her own claws, and suddenly raised her head and said loudly, "Perhaps it's for convenience that everyone uses the Celestial Body. After all, everyone's cultivation is similar, so their appearances are also similar."
Senior brother, dreams shouldn't be taken as reality. What those people in your dreams are, what they're really like, isn't important. What's important is whether you've gained any insight.
"Have you gained any insights?" Qingpingzi asked himself. He felt as if he had some understanding, but in reality, he gained nothing.
Then he asked again, "Junior sister, what is an immortal?"
Ji Rong tilted her head, racking her brains to imagine those scattered and unsystematic scenes, and said, "Those who can attain the Dao should all become immortals."
It seems that immortals who made contributions are still worshipped by other immortals after their disintegration, just like the witch tribe of the desolate sea worships Lord Jue and my siblings during festivals.
These words made Qingpingzi seem shrouded in mist, hazy yet seemingly real.
He felt that in that misty, cloud-shrouded place, there were countless roads, but none of them were clearly visible.
However, he was genuinely curious about the dream world that Ji Rong had mentioned. So, instead of discussing the Dao in the usual way, they changed their approach to having Ji Rong describe the dream, Qing Pingzi ask questions for a day, and then take a day off.
Ji Rong had very limited memory, and within five days, she had run out of things to say and had nothing new to say.
So she began reading the tree trunk to Qingpingzi again.
However, Qingpingzi had already fallen into the world described by Ji Rong. As soon as he had a chance, he took the words Ji Rong had described and asked them repeatedly.
Three years passed like flowing water. One day, Qingpingzi asked Ji Rong again, "Junior sister, all of us cultivators pursue our own strength, but why are you so fond of the mortal masses, and how can you use the Emperor's realm to inscribe the mortal path into the heavens?"
Ji Rong had answered this question many times. She was originally a mortal bird, and at that time she was protected by other mortal birds as she soared through the sky. What else could she inscribe besides the mortal path?
But today, she decided to use a more noble way of speaking to Qingpingzi, so she raised her slender neck and said solemnly: "Senior brother, although you and I are protected by heaven and earth and have cultivated the Great Dao, what difference is there between you and me and mortal birds and beasts in the eyes of heaven and earth?"
As Juejun said, a dead end has an end, but the great path is endless.
In my dream world, a wise man said that there are three thousand great paths, all leading to the same destination.
A thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant's bite.
It is also said that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.
Everything has two sides, yin and yang; what's wrong with the mundane ways of life?
Upon hearing this, Qingpingzi seemed to be deep in thought, and he silently squatted down by the edge of the cloud cliff.
Looking down at the billowing white mist, Qingpingzi's mind was filled with the magnificent, self-contained world that Ji Rong had described to him.
Five days later, Qingpingzi suddenly roared in a low voice, "Thank you for your explanation, Junior Sister."
After saying this, his eyes bulged, and he thought to himself, "I have inherited my master's last wish, and I have sworn an oath of cause and effect to complete the Hundred Skills Seal!"
But the Hundred Skills Path has always been the Master's Path. She failed, so how can I just try to make up for it?
My path has been completed!
As he thought this, the pent-up frustration in his heart seemed to dissipate instantly, and the Hundred Skills Mark, full of cracks, appeared on his forehead. He solemnly called out, "Junior Sister, help me, bring me the Source!"
Upon hearing this, Ji Rong, who was lying in ambush nearby, immediately transformed into a tree body. She swung a thick root in the air, making a crackling sound, and severed its head. Then, she channeled the remaining source of energy within her celestial body through this root into the shattered Hundred Techniques Seal.
The Hundred Skills Seal, which had only a few hundred cracks, suddenly split into pieces, but the cracks were held together by golden threads, preventing it from scattering all over the ground.
As if sensing something, Qingpingzi was no longer alarmed and saddened. He quickly flipped his claws, piecing the fragments back together as if assembling a puppet beast.
Every crack and every path, together they form a new path.
Qingpingzi, holding up the Hundred Skills Seal he had painstakingly crafted, roared to the heavens: "Originating from the mortal realm, it shall return to the mortal realm!"
"Cultivate skills to enter the Way, harmonize all methods to attain the Way, seal complete!"
Then, the golden, dazzling Hundred Skills Seal scattered into millions of pieces in the air. Each piece was like a seal, marking its own pattern between heaven and earth. Then, it flew back to Qingpingzi's head and reassembled into a complete new seal.
As this new seal was created, the clouds and mist in the sky suddenly surged, and two huge vortexes quickly swirled out in the highest heavens.
As if an ancient being had awakened and opened its eyes, it surveyed all directions before heading straight toward the cloud cliff.
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