A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 501: Mountains and rivers take shape, and stars are spread out

After Duan Rong finished three rounds, a thin layer of sweat had already appeared on his forehead. Under the moonlight, his forehead was shiny, as if it was covered with a layer of water.

Duan Rong put away his sword and stood up, exhaled lightly, half-knelt on the ground in the direction of Lu Yinlin, and said respectfully: "I am an unworthy disciple, my sword skills are poor, and I have polluted the eyes of the ancestor."

Duan Rong's words were meant to be modest, but at this time Lu Yinlin just stared at him blankly and did not reply for a long time.

The sect's ancestor, Lu Yinlin, was feeling extremely upset at this moment.

Chu Qiushan once told him that Duan Rong was able to comprehend the artistic conception in the Yuanqi realm because he possessed a unique state of emptiness and clarity.

But when he saw it today, the light of Duan Rong's sword under the moonlight, and the complex and flickering artistic conception beneath the sword light really frightened Lu Yinlin.

Not to mention that Duan Rong is only twenty years old, even if he is two hundred years old, it is impossible for him to comprehend so many complex and numerous artistic conceptions.

It is so difficult to comprehend, deepen and integrate the artistic conception. Every step of progress is due to chance.

"How is it possible? How can one person possess hundreds of artistic conceptions?"

"What exactly is this unique state of emptiness and clarity that Duan Rong possesses?"

Several doubts were intertwined in Lu Yinlin's mind.

At this time, a strange scene appeared in Lu Yinlin's mind again. He projected his own Nascent Soul clone into Duan Rong's spiritual sea of consciousness, and saw the southeast sky, which was full of densely packed weapon afterimages.

Those afterimages are not real objects and have no substance.

At that time, his Nascent Soul's clone did not sense any hint of the inner artistic conception from the afterimages of the weapons.

But Lu Yinlin always felt that the dense afterimages of weapons in Duan Rong's sea of consciousness and the complex and flickering artistic conception under his sword seemed to have some kind of indescribable connection.

Duan Rong saw Lu Yinlin standing in a daze under the moonlight for a long time without saying a word. He couldn't help feeling a little worried, but he didn't dare to ask any random questions.

Just when Duan Rong was hesitating whether to say something else, Lu Yinlin suddenly spoke.

"Duan Rong, how come you possess hundreds of different states of mind? Is it possible that you have comprehended all of these states of mind one by one?"

There was a hint of severity in Lu Yinlin's voice.

Duan Rong was shocked. He didn't know how Lu Yinlin could see hundreds of artistic conceptions.

The artistic conception he devoured, because the artistic conception is a ball of soul light wrapped in a light film, cannot be directly digested and absorbed in the sea of consciousness.

He swallowed the ball of artistic conception light into the gray phantom, enveloped the ball of light, and then used the Soul Spear to pierce the ball of artistic conception light, and then let the shattered artistic conception light spots merge into the gray phantom.

It is equivalent to that the origin of his spiritual consciousness is a fusion of various complex artistic conceptions.

After the fusion, those artistic conceptions disappeared without a trace. Except for the sword intent that Duan Rong had deliberately concentrated, even Duan Rong himself could not perceive the rest of the artistic conceptions. He did not expect that Lu Yinlin could see through it after just one look.

There was an obvious flash of astonishment in Duan Rong's eyes.

Lu Yinlin had naturally caught it, and said coldly: "Speak!"

Duan Rong said: "Disciple is not very clear. When the state of emptiness and clarity was activated, disciple's mind was clear and there were no distracting thoughts. Afterwards, I realized it too late and can only remember some vague traces."

Duan Rong had always used the state of emptiness and clarity to cover up the fact that he had comprehended the artistic conception in the Yuanqi realm. This matter was naturally commonplace. Although he was a little flustered when Lu Yinlin first exposed him, it was only for a moment. Then Duan Rong decided to respond by saying he knew nothing about the question.

"The realm of emptiness and clarity!?" Lu Yinlin's eyes moved.

The realm of emptiness and clarity is not uncommon in Kyushu.

Some extraordinary people who have attained the state of emptiness and clarity will suddenly, without any warning, enter a state of no thoughts with their six senses sharp and their minds clear and transparent. In this state, they are like a different person and can see through the essence of things at a glance.

But the useless thing about this state of emptiness and clarity is that there is no regular pattern in its triggering, and it usually only appears occasionally in young people. Once they reach adulthood, it basically disappears and no longer exists.

But the state of emptiness and clarity that Duan Rong possessed was obviously something strange.

First, he had reached adulthood, but the state of emptiness and clarity had not disappeared. Second, he seemed to have found a certain pattern that triggered the state of emptiness and clarity, which was that it was inductively connected to a specific weapon.

"Could it be that the dense afterimages in Duan Rong's spiritual sea of consciousness are the special state of emptiness and clarity?!" Lu Yinlin couldn't help but think with astonishment.

Those afterimages corresponded to specific weapons and triggered the state of emptiness and clarity.

Lu Yinlin suddenly remembered something. He looked at Duan Rong and asked, "When you formed the vortex, you stirred up the tide of heaven and earth's vital energy. Did you also enter the realm of emptiness and clarity?"

"Then..." Duan Rong hesitated.

Lu Yinlin said: "Tell the truth."

"Yes, Grandmaster." Duan Rong said, "I am not too sure. The sudden whirlwind in the Elders' Court was actually related to a piece of calligraphy by Master Gu."

Duan Rong knew very well that the more complicated the story was, the more it would help hide the truth. After all, he believed that even if Lu Yinlin was an old monster in the Yuanqi realm, he would not be able to see through the fact that he had devoured the spirit of the weapon. His confusion about why the sea of dim light in his spiritual sea of consciousness was in the shape of a tree proved this point.

The ability to devour weapon spirits that he brought with him when he crossed over to this world was definitely not an ability that existed on the Jiuzhou Continent. Even a Yuanying Realm expert would never know this.

This is also the reason why Duan Rong dares to make things more and more complicated.

Since Lu Yinlin could never know the truth of the matter, he only needed to pretend to be confused and make the appearances seem confusing and plausible. Lu Yinlin would then organize the logic out of the confusing appearances.

A typical characteristic of strong people is that most of them are somewhat conceited. Compared to what others say, they are usually more willing to believe in themselves and to analyze the conclusions from complex information.

At this time, Duan Rong was just following Lu Yinlin's temperament and analyzing the situation carefully to come to a conclusion and create conditions for him.

Lu Yinlin's eyes narrowed and he asked, "A calligraphy piece by Gu Daoling?"

"Yes, old man."

Duan Rong then recounted how he first saw the calligraphy in Zhu He's room, how the remaining feelings in the Elders' Council emerged, and how Zhu He gave him the calligraphy.

During this period, Lu Yinlin interrupted Duan Rong several times and asked him carefully about the state of mind he entered when he was observing the calligraphy.

After Duan Rong finished speaking, he looked at Lu Yinlin and said, "Looking back on it, I call that state a peak experience. This is because my understanding in that state is far beyond that of ordinary times."

"Peak experience?!" Lu Yinlin smiled and said, "You are good at naming things."

When Duan Rong saw Lu Yinlin smile, he also chuckled. At this time, the solemn and dignified atmosphere between the two had disappeared.

Although Duan Rong's previous statements were somewhat half-truths, he told the truth about his state of knotting and his insights from observing the calligraphy. When Lu Yinlin asked him in detail, he told him many more details. As Lu Yinlin listened to them all, he believed most of them.

"Is the calligraphy of Gu Daoling in your cave?" Lu Yinlin looked at Duan Rong and asked.

Duan Rong just said that when he was about to enter the valley today, Zhu He gave him the calligraphy.

"Inside the disciple cave!"

Lu Yinlin said, "Show it to me."

Duan Rong then returned to the cave, took the calligraphy, walked under the moonlight, and handed it to Lu Yinlin.

Lu Yinlin took it and unfolded the scroll. Under the cold moonlight, he couldn't help but take a breath and exclaimed in a rather inappropriate tone: "Good calligraphy!"

"The mountains and rivers are in shape, and the stars are in formation!"

Lu Yinlin's eyes lit up at this moment, and after seeing these words, he felt very happy.

He looked at it for a while and sighed, "Gu Daoling put a lot of effort into this character. But Zhu He has been immersed in worldly affairs for too long, and his spirituality is dull. It is difficult for him to comprehend the magic of this character."

"You, on the other hand, do have some luck..." Lu Yinlin said to Duan Rong.

Upon seeing these words, Lu Yinlin became even more certain of the situation that Duan Rong had just described.

That state was the result of an accidental collision and agitation between Duan Rong's own uniqueness and the magic of this word, which was why it was able to trigger the tides of the vital energy of heaven and earth.

Lu Yinlin observed it for a long time before reluctantly rolling up the scroll and handing it back to Duan Rong, saying, "You should keep this calligraphy carefully and study it carefully. Over time, it will be of great benefit to your practice." Duan Rong took it respectfully and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Old Ancestor."

Lu Yinlin said, "You go ahead."

Duan Rong knelt down and bowed, saying, "Disciple, I'll take my leave."

Lu Yinlin stood at the edge of the tree shadow, looking at Duan Rong's figure in the moonlight with cold eyes.

"This boy is indeed gifted!"

"But his ability to stir up the tides of heaven and earth was still due to a lot of coincidences from external opportunities."

In fact, Lu Yinlin didn’t believe that Duan Rong would become a spiritual master.

There is only one spiritual base in the Kyushu continent.

There is no one like him before, and I am afraid there will be no one like him after him...

The Jiuzhou continent has a vicissitudes of history of millions of years. Before the spiritual foundation, the world had no idea that there was a realm of original gods.

After they had their spiritual foundation, they finally realized that the Nascent Soul was just the embryonic form of the Primordial Spirit, which was not only fragile but also had many limitations.

The primordial spirit can leave the body and travel around.

The human soul is originally a fragment separated from the divine body. To achieve the immortal primordial spirit is to restore the original appearance of the divine body. Therefore, Master Lingji named this realm the original divine realm.

The human soul is originally a god, but it is incomplete and due to its obsession and delusion, it has become decadent and stupid, not knowing where it belongs.

And the practice that goes through the tribulations of the worldly world is to return to the pure and clear nature of one's own and realize the immortal true body.

In Lu Yinlin's opinion, it was impossible for Duan Rong to advance to the Original God Realm like Master Lingji, but he was still very confident that Duan Rong could advance to the Nascent Soul Realm.

He now has three talents in his hands: Chu Qiushan, Gu Daoling, and Duan Rong.

If we were to rank these three talents, Chu Qiushan would probably be ranked last.

As for Duan Rong and Gu Daoling...

Although Gu Daoling has achieved the late stage of Dongming Realm, he is only one step away from Yuanying Realm.

But just this one step away, in the endless years, who knows how many arrogant people have been exhausted, and how many geniuses have been defeated...

Duan Rong is only at the Cyclone Realm now.

Although this boy has many extraordinary qualities, Lu Yinlin feels that it is too early to rank him ahead of Gu Daoling.

Let’s wait and see the results!
Lu Yinlin shook his head and said to himself, "It's really hard to say about these two people..."

In fact, in Lu Yinlin's mind, Chu Qiushan's hope of achieving the Nascent Soul Realm was already slim. As for Gu Daoling and Duan Rong, if one of them achieved it, the Taiyi Sect would not be without successors.

“If both of them can achieve it, then the Taiyi Sect will be well-known beyond Qingzhou!”

The land of Kyushu is so rich, but Qingzhou is bitterly cold and has strong winds and sandstorms. Taiyi Sect has been entrenched in Qingzhou for tens of thousands of years, but it has only been a difficult business. To go beyond Qingzhou is the dream of all the ancestors!
If both of them fail to achieve their goal and turn into bones, then when Lu Yinlin's lifespan runs out, it will probably be the time when Taiyi Sect will be destroyed.

Without a Yuanying realm master, the Taiyi Sect is just a piece of fat meat on the chopping board. Who wouldn't take a bite?

In the history of Kyushu, how many sects have perished?
It is said that time is destiny. Why can't Taiyi Sect be destroyed?
When Duan Rong walked back to the cave, he glanced at Lu Qingzhu's cave, only to see that the cave entrance was dark and there was no one in sight. He returned to his cave and fell asleep.

A dreamless night.

Duan Rong stretched lazily and walked out of the cave. The valley was filled with soft light in the morning light. He was in a good mood and took the wooden basin to the spring to wash.

After Duan Rong finished washing, he scooped up a handful of clear water from the spring and drank a few sips. He looked up and suddenly saw two bright red fruits growing on the cliff next to him.

Duan Rong was well versed in medicine and could identify hundreds of herbs, so he even recognized the fruit.

Although he was fasting, it was okay for him to eat two wild fruits occasionally.

Duan Rong picked two fruits, washed them at the spring, then put the wooden basin back into the cave. While eating the fruits, he walked towards Lu Qingzhu. He stood at the entrance of Lu Qingzhu's cave and shouted.

Soon, Lu Qingzhu appeared at the entrance of the cave.

Duan Rong bit the fruit in his hand, handed another fruit to Lu Qingzhu, and said, "Do you want to eat it?"

Lu Qingzhu took a look at the fruit and asked, "Is this fruit not poisonous?"

Duan Rong smiled faintly and said, "This is called Red Jing Fruit. It is poisonous when it is green and yellow, but once it turns bright red, it is not only non-toxic, but also tastes very good."

"Really?" Lu Qingzhu said coldly, "Eat it yourself."

As she was about to turn around and go back into the cave, Duan Rong suddenly said, "Wait!"

Hearing this, Lu Qingzhu stopped and looked back at him.

Duan Rong said: "I am not here to bring you fruit. Black Ice Turtle, do you remember?"

Lu Qingzhu asked: "When?"

Duan Rong spat out the fruit core in his mouth and said, "Now."

"Now?"

"Yes!" Duan Rong smiled and said, "The sooner the better." He was still thinking about rescuing Xiao Yu, so naturally the sooner the better.

Lu Qingzhu hesitated for a moment, then walked towards the dead tree forest at the entrance of the valley with Duan Rong.

In the dead woods, Duan Rong asked, "Miss Lu, where do you usually go down into the dark forest?"

Lu Qingzhu said: "Just follow me for a while."

After the two of them came out of the dead woods, Lu Qingzhu suddenly leaped up, her graceful figure flying towards the clouds. Duan Rong immediately followed closely behind her.

The figures of the two suddenly appeared one after the other and fell in a valley somewhere.

Duan Rong followed Lu Qingzhu again, but after walking about two meters along the mountain road, Lu Qingzhu suddenly stopped beside a big rock.

The huge rock stood majestically, about two or three meters high, as straight as a small mountain.

There was a crack on the ground at the bottom of the boulder. The crack was not as wide as the well mouth and was only half a meter long.

It looks dark inside, like a natural crack.

At the mouth of the crack, many centipedes and millipedes were crawling around.

"It's here!" Lu Qingzhu suddenly pointed at the crack and said.

Duan Rong was surprised and asked, "Is this the entrance to the Dark Forest?"

Lu Qingzhu said, "Originally, this was a guarded entrance, but it was later abandoned. But there are still three chains. I usually enter the Dark Forest from here."

Duan Rong nodded. Although it looked strange, since Lu Qingzhu had walked there, it should be fine.

"Then go down." Duan Rong said calmly.

Lu Qingzhu leapt down from the dark crack. The energy of heaven and earth wrapped around her instantly crushed the centipedes and millipedes crawling at the mouth of the crack into powder.

After Lu Qingzhu's figure disappeared, Duan Rong also jumped down.

(End of this chapter)