Shushan Earthly Immortal

Chapter 422 As the sun sets and the rabbit flies, I finally see the fairy's face.

"The method of retrospection concerns time and creation, and can be said to be one of the most difficult methods to learn in the world, even surpassing the methods of emptiness and thunder."

"Everything in the world evolves from the primordial Yin and Yang energies. Whether it's the Spirit Eye Technique 'Observing the True Nature' or the Great Supernatural Power 'Reversing Heaven and Returning to the Sun,' their essence is the reversal of Yin and Yang. Therefore, to learn 'Observing the True Nature,' there are two hurdles: one is a thorough understanding of Yin and Yang, and the other is possessing the Yin-Yang Dharma Eye."

Mizu explained.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded and replied,

"These are just minor obstacles."

Mizu smiled upon hearing this and said,
"That makes things much simpler. Here, I'll pass it on to you right now."

As Mi Zu spoke, he extended a finger, the tip of which emitted a burst of spiritual light, and touched Cheng Xinzhan's brow.

Cheng Xinzhan knew this was the "enlightenment" method, so he neither dodged nor avoided it.

Soon, he sensed a ball of mysterious light entering his inner world from the outside. He guided it into the Purple Palace and used his primordial spirit to unravel the mysterious light. The mysterious light manifested as a book, which was the method of "Observing the Transformation and Penetrating the True Bright Eyes".

"You can study here. If you don't understand anything, just ask me."

"it is good."

Cheng Xinzhan agreed. In order not to disturb Mi Zu, he left Lupeng and sat down under the immortal tree to meditate and study the Dharma.

The method is profound and mysterious, but in plain terms, the essence is that cultivating this eye technique requires the foundation of developing the Yin-Yang Dharma Eye. This eye is used to observe the sun and moon, understanding their trajectories. The method also states that the positions of the sun and moon are constantly changing, unaffected by any variables. However, the changing trajectories of the sun and moon are the only constant in the world, driving and recording the passage of time, and are the root of all changes. Therefore, by understanding the trajectories of the sun and moon, one can trace back to how everything appeared in the past.

Cheng Xinzhan understood. In fact, his self-created flying sword combination technique, "Sun and Moon Detoxifying Life," contained this idea. It used the trajectory of the sun and moon as the sword's trajectory, and the flying sword transformed into yin and yang mysterious light, generating rapid speed. This was the application of "technique." "Observing Transformation and Penetrating Truth with Bright Eyes" focused on the changes and constants of the sun and moon's trajectory, seeing deeper and higher, reaching the level of "Tao."

However, he felt that he also had some insights into the Yin-Yang Dao, and the Dharma Eye pattern of left Yang and right Yin was established a long time ago. In addition, he had also done some research on the trajectory of the sun and moon, so he felt that there should not be much of a problem.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Time flies like an arrow, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Cheng Xinzhan blinked, his eyes reflecting the rotation of the sun and moon, and flickering with profound light. He glanced at Mi Zu and, seeing that Mi Zu was diligently reading the scriptures, did not disturb him. Instead, he looked up directly at the branches and leaves of the immortal tree.

The immortal tree's branches were lush and fragrant, its leaves dark and shady. When it came into his view, it stained his pupils with a deep blue-green color, and a cool feeling arose spontaneously, making his eyes, which had been a little sore and tired from observing the movement of the sun and moon for the past month, feel much better.

He activated his spiritual eyes, and a mysterious light emanated from them. Without feeling any obstruction or strain, the branches and leaves of the immortal tree in his eyes began to change.

Perhaps I am truly a destined person of the Immortal Tree.

That's what he thought.

In his eyes, the banana leaves, which were three to five feet long, slowly shrank, and the jade-like branches gradually thinned. The entire immortal tree seemed to be growing in reverse, slowly shrinking.

As Cheng Xinzhan watched, he discovered that he could control the shrinking process; he could speed it up or slow it down as he pleased. He realized he had been constantly on the move and had missed the immortal tree's growth, so he didn't rush to accelerate it. Instead, he maintained a pace that allowed him to clearly see every detail of the immortal tree, watching it transform from a towering tree back into a tiny sapling, returning to the time when the Tongxuan Ancestor had initially cared for it.

It took another month just to trace back this period of change.

Looking further, the seedling transformed back into a tender sprout, reaching the stage where Cheng Xinzhan first saw the ginseng fruit seed sprout. Further on, it transformed back into a yellow jade-like seed. The seed's texture resembled that of a peach pit, full of grooves and veins, appearing chaotic at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the veins resembled the veins of mountains and earth.

The fruit pit remained in this state for a very long time. Even when he adjusted the rewind speed to the fastest, it took him more than a month to see the rotten peel on the fruit pit.

Cheng Xinzhan's spirits lifted; he had finally waited for this moment.

So he continued to trace back as quickly as possible. The rotten fruit peel gradually became fresh and plump, but this process still took a long time. It seems that the fairy fruit also took many years to completely rot.

More than a month later, Cheng Xinzhan finally saw the ripe and plump ginseng fruit. At this time, he turned the speed of the rewind to the slowest and carefully observed and examined it.

The fruit looks like a three-day-old baby, pink all over, with all four limbs and facial features, cute and adorable, and extremely strange.

This is the legendary ginseng fruit. Legend has it that the ginseng fruit tree flowers once every three thousand years, bears fruit once every three thousand years, and takes another three thousand years to ripen, taking a total of nine thousand years to be consumed. It only produces thirty fruits at a time, making it a rare treasure. If a person is fortunate enough to smell the fruit, they can gain three hundred years of lifespan; if they eat one, they can gain four thousand years of lifespan. Ordinary mortals who eat it can instantly become celestial beings.

Cheng Xinzhan, naturally unable to smell or eat it, found it quite pleasing to the eye even just to look at it across millions of years. At the same time, his first reaction to this Dao-shaped fruit wasn't to eat it. He was thinking, how wonderful it would be to refine such a primordial Dao-shaped spiritual fruit into an external avatar.

However, even immortals don't live to be more than ten thousand years old, so I probably don't have the good fortune to live to see this tree in the mountains bear fruit. Besides, a tree that grows from a fruit pit is a one-of-a-kind thing throughout history. Legend has it that Zhenyuan Daxian's rules are even stricter than those of the Queen Mother of the West. Even when he gives away immortal fruits, he sends his attendants to retrieve the pits afterward, registering them all to prevent others from touching them. Therefore, no one has ever been able to grow a ginseng fruit tree again.

Therefore, no one knows how long it will take for this magical tree in the mountains, which sprouts from a fruit seed, to flower and bear fruit. As for the fruit that grows, everyone knows that it is less potent than the magical fruit from the mother plant, but no one can say for sure how much less potent it is.

Cheng Xinzhan watched intently, not noticing or having time to pay attention to how much time had passed, until he saw the scenery behind the fairy fruit suddenly change, from dark to bright, and with the change of light and shadow, he also saw a lush green.

Ah!
Cheng Xinzhan realized that this was the process of the fruit falling from the branch to the ground!

At this moment, when he looked again, he noticed that a stem had sprouted from the bottom of the fruit, hanging from the branch. The fruit was moving its arms and legs in mid-air, nodding and swaying, and seemed to make a sound when the wind passed by.

His heart skipped a beat as he realized he had traveled back to the time when the fruit of life was still hanging on the mother tree of the immortal tree. In other words, the swaying tree shadow behind the immortal fruit that he was seeing now was the divine tree that once stood in the legendary garden behind the Wuzhuang Temple on Longevity Mountain in ancient times! A spiritual root born at the beginning of the world!
However, perhaps it was because too much time had passed, perhaps it was because his cultivation level was too low, or perhaps it was because his spiritual eyes were limited, so Cheng Xinzhan could not see the tree shadow behind the fruit clearly. It was just a blurry green expanse. He could not see the full view of the immortal tree, nor could he see the eaves or corners of the legendary Wuzhuang Temple.

However, judging from the dim sunlight, he could only see that it was a branch facing south.

Just then, the scene before his eyes changed again, and a crimson-gold pole suddenly flashed into Cheng Xinzhan's view.

The red gold pole was two feet long and as thick as a finger. At the top was a garlic-shaped bulb with an eye at the end, from which a green velvet rope was tied.

Cheng Xinzhan looked back, first seeing the golden pole, then watching it disappear from sight. So, at that time, it must have been this golden pole that knocked the ginseng fruit down.

In his vision, he vaguely saw the pole being gripped by a hairy hand, but just as he was about to take a closer look at the hand, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes, and then the image disappeared, and the flashback ended.

He closed his eyes and rubbed them.

"Something went wrong?"

He heard Mizu's voice.

He slowly opened his eyes.
"What went wrong?"

"Your eyes are bleeding. Did something go wrong with the pupil-refining technique? I didn't see you ask me."

"No, no, it was because I was observing the Immortal Tree and saw its mother plant that I inadvertently glimpsed a powerful being, which is why my eyes were injured."

"Guan Su? You've already mastered it? The Mother Plant? The Ginseng Fruit Tree? A Great Supernatural Being? Zhenyuan Daxian?"

Mi Zu asked a barrage of questions, his voice loud and intermittent. It was clear that even an immortal was somewhat incredulous after hearing what Cheng Xinzhan had seen.

Cheng Xinzhan only answered the last question.
"No, it shouldn't be Zhenyuan Daxian. He doesn't look like him. He should be a guest of the immortal."

Mi Zu looked at Cheng Xinzhan with admiration in his eyes.

"You are destined for great things."

Cheng Xinzhan smiled. He didn't try to be modest at this moment, otherwise he would have seemed a bit dishonest.

“Mi Zu, how long has it been since I entered Wufu Mountain?” “Nine months.”

"So long?"

Cheng Xinzhan was somewhat surprised that so much time had passed. However, after he looked inward at the Crimson Palace, he no longer found it strange. He must have slowed down the rewind speed when he saw the ginseng fruit. At that time, he was concentrating on visualizing the ginseng fruit, and the life embryo in the Crimson Palace was also changing silently. Now it had grown into something exactly like the ginseng fruit.

"Thank you, Master Mi, for transmitting the Dharma."

Cheng Xinzhan bid farewell to Mi Shanglian and prepared to leave.

"Go to Sanqing Palace, Hehe needs to see you."

Mi Shanglian said.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded in agreement.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sanqing Palace.

"Headmaster."

After exchanging greetings, Cheng Xinzhan sat down in front of Ji Hehe with great familiarity.

"Any results?"

Ji Hehe asked with a smile.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and nodded, then asked,
"Sect Leader, I believe that the first six transformations I have achieved so far can be considered True Form. What are the intricacies of the latter three transformations? What exactly is this 'Immortal Bud'? What does a true 'Life Embryo' look like? What kind of 'Spiritual Embryo' can be called a Dao-shaped Spiritual Embryo?"

Ji Hehe smiled upon hearing this and said,

"The first six changes are traceable, but the last three changes are not fixed. Whatever you raise it to be, that's what it will be. 'Fairy Bud' doesn't mean that the embryo should grow to look like a certain flower bud. Rather, it means that at this time you need to create a fetal membrane for the embryo to wrap and protect it, so that the embryo can safely complete its final development and changes in the fetal membrane."

"After the amniotic membrane envelops the embryonic life form, it looks like a flower bud, which is the true meaning of 'Immortal Bud.' The word 'Immortal' also indicates that the embryonic life form will complete its final transformation within the amniotic membrane, transcending the mundane. At the same time, this amniotic membrane will also be a medium for you to unleash the Nascent Soul Dao Domain in the future."

"The 'embryo of life' refers to the result of the union of life and death, where the fetus will develop its own form. The 'spiritual embryo' needs no further explanation; it is a being born from divine illumination. These three transformations can be achieved naturally through your own cultivation; there's no need to deliberately seek out a specific form."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, seemingly understanding, and then asked,

"Sect Leader, how should we create the amniotic sac?"

Ji Hehe then explained,

“Heavenly Gang, Earthly Fiend, spiritual Qi, spiritual materials, and magic treasures are all acceptable. The main thing is whether the Crimson Palace is willing to accommodate them and whether the embryo is willing to move in.”

Cheng Xinzhan finally understood, then changed the subject and reminded him.

"Sect Leader, Mi Zu said you wanted to see me?"

Ji Hehe nodded and said,
“It’s nothing serious, just a few things to tell you. I asked Mizu about it three months ago, and he said you were in deep meditation, so I didn’t disturb you. Then some things happened, and I’ll tell you about them all now.”

Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

"The first thing is what I was planning to do three months ago, to find you. It's good news: Wan Gaoming of Wuliang Mountain has entered the Four Realms."

"Oh, is it so!"

Cheng Xinzhan was somewhat pleased because Wan Gaoming had a low starting point and a poor foundation, relying mainly on his cleverness and luck to get to where he was today. Moreover, to be honest, Cheng Xinzhan had seen the secret method for achieving conception in Wuliang Mountain; it was a method with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death, and even if successful, the quality was hardly commendable. He hadn't expected Wan Gaoming to achieve conception under such circumstances, which was truly remarkable; he certainly had good fortune.

Ji Hehe nodded, then his smile faded, and he sighed.

"The second piece of news also came from Dianwen. This news was not good. Just half a month after Wan Gaoming entered the fourth realm, Ancestor Haha was born."

"Haha, Ancestor? Who is that?"

Cheng Xinzhan frowned and asked, "This name is unfamiliar; I've never heard of it before."

Ji Hehe sighed and said,

"This person became famous early on. He was a figure of the same generation as the Eight Suffering Kings and the Underworld Saint Xu Wan. He was the previous leader of the Southern School. After his incident, the banner of the Southern School was passed to Green Robe. This demon is a veteran of the Fifth Realm. He has almost cultivated an immortal body. Even Long Eyebrows cannot kill him."

"When Ancestor Haha was undergoing his tribulation to become an immortal, his lower body was burned off by heavenly fire, causing him severe injuries. He was forced to become a rogue immortal and was sealed away by Changmei. At that time, the Dianwen Demonic Sect searched everywhere but found no trace of him. However, three months ago, he broke free of the seal in the Savage Mountain. No one expected that Changmei would actually seal this demon under the Savage Mountain where the rogue cultivators of the Dianwen Demonic Sect gathered. It's truly a case of being blind to one's own shortcomings."

"Could it have been released by the Green Robe or the Blood God Child?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked.

"It's unlikely. You don't know, before the Haha Ancestor was sealed, his cave was located on Mount Maxiong, at the border of Yunnan and Miao regions."

Ji Hehe said.

"Ma Xiong Mountain? The Ma Xiong Mountain at the source of the Nanpan River?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked in surprise.

Ji Hehe nodded.

Cheng Xinzhan suddenly realized that it shouldn't have been released by Blood God Child or Green Robe Ancestor. This Haha Ancestor was the previous leader of the Southern Sect, his cave was still at the source of the Nanpan River, and his strength was formidable. His reappearance put Green Robe in an awkward position. Blood God Child and Green Robe, as the leaders of the North and South respectively, had always had a tacit understanding and probably didn't want to see internal strife within the Southern Sect.

"In that case, it's not too bad."

Cheng Xinzhan said.

Ji Hehe nodded, "Haha, Ancestor has broken the seal. Both the righteous and demonic factions should be quite disgusted."

"Is there any movement from Ancestor Haha now?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked again

"No."

Ji Hehe shook his head.
"They have only unified the seventy-two caves of the Savage Mountain, and have not yet taken any further action."

"Did anything else happen?"

"There's one more thing. A month ago, Xu Shiren of Yangtai Mountain fought with Hu Hailong, one of the two villains of the South China Sea. Master Xu suffered a loss and was injured. That's why you owe Luofu Mountain a favor. If you have time, you can send your regards."

Cheng Xinzhan was somewhat surprised, then immediately nodded in agreement. He had made great progress in his cultivation of the life embryo and his avatar had also passed the tribulation. He had originally planned to return to Yuyang, and since that was the case, he couldn't delay any longer.

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(End of this chapter)