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

Duan Rong sat cross-legged on the futon. He glanced at the yellowed animal skin manual not far from his feet, but did not turn the page. Instead, he faced the sky with his palms facing upwards and began to form hand seals.

Chu Wushang sat there, watching Duan Rong's swift and complex hand seals, and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. He simply couldn't understand how someone could form hand seals like that without even practicing.

Chu Wushang then thought of some extraordinary individuals with exceptional knowledge and memories; they could memorize texts that others struggled to study for a long time. Perhaps Duan Rong possessed the same ability with martial arts techniques, able to thoroughly understand and master them at a glance.

Duan Rong was indeed extremely familiar with those complicated hand seals, because in his mind, he had practiced these seals for many years and they were as natural as breathing.

Because he had devoured the spirit of the yellowed animal skin manual, the sect's secret techniques of the Six Wonders Mind Observation Sect, though quite complex, were a natural progression for Duan Rong. He effortlessly penetrated the methods of counting, following, and stopping, and then, through stopping, he entered the meditative state of the Observation Sect.

After his meditation was stabilized, Duan Rong looked up and gazed around.

This was the second time he had entered the realm of meditation.

He remained seated cross-legged in the lotus pond of the boundless Xianghai, with lotus leaves rising and lotus flowers in full bloom.

The blooming lotus flowers emitted a faint glow that stretched to the endless distance, with blue, red, and white lights converging, creating a scene of sanctity.

Amidst the crystal-clear sky, the sound of chanting filled the air...

Duan Rong took a light breath and then formed hand seals again, beginning to force out the six inner demons deep within his heart.

The sacred chanting abruptly ceased, and the crystal-clear sky began to shatter, as if the heavens were collapsing. Large shards of crystal rained down, shattering the lotus flowers in the pond.

As the crystals fell, the sky revealed an alluring peach blossom hue, followed by the sweet, soft, and seductive sounds that filled the space...

A multitude of delicacies began to appear in the peach-colored sky, and the boundless clear waters of the Xianghai suddenly transformed into a pool full of fine wine, its aroma filling the air...

Duan Rong frowned slightly as he looked at the countless delicacies scattered across the sky, a sense of disgust rising in his heart. In his eyes, all those delicacies were crawling with maggots and were nothing more than rotting corpses...

The next moment, all the lotus flowers around him who were sitting cross-legged turned into a wisp of red smoke, and in the red smoke, graceful bodies appeared.

Under the peach-colored sky, amidst the enchanting sounds of celestial music, they swayed their hips, draped in gossamer-thin veils...

Their expressions varied—some were frivolous, some wanton, some shy, some cold—but their bodies were all alluring, brimming with captivating charm.

Duan Rong looked at the writhing bodies, his eyes empty and cold.

To him, these alluring and seductive bodies were nothing more than skeletons crawling with maggots.

He was surrounded by swirling bones and crawling maggots...

At this moment, the pool water a few feet away from him began to turn black, emitting a strong stench, and the bodies of young men and women were rolling and pleasuring each other in the black water...

The first time he entered the meditative state, the scene of men and women indulging in wine and meat was right next to him, but this time it appeared more than ten feet away.

The inner demons have mutated because his underlying state of mind has changed!

To Duan Rong, the bodies pleasuring each other in the black water a dozen feet away were nothing but rotting corpses; their lewd laughter sounded like screams to him…

Duan Rong's eyes were as cold as frost, and he suddenly shouted: "The hell of lust is like a boiling oil cauldron or a volcano, where the torment and burning are even worse. Can you sentient beings escape it?!"

The shout suddenly resounded throughout the world, and the wine pool and meat forest vanished instantly. The beautiful bodies and the men and women having sex turned into wisps of smoke.

"The first layer of the demon of appetite and the second layer of the demon of lust have been broken! The wine pool and meat forest formed by the two demons have been destroyed." Duan Rong looked at the briefly silent world of meditation and murmured to himself. Then he looked up at the peach-colored sky.

Because he knew that the barrage of sword shadows was about to arrive.

The moment he looked up, the sky, which had been a seductive peach-colored hue, turned blood red, and a chilling aura emanated from it.

Sword shadows materialized against the blood-red sky.

The swords reversed direction and thrust entirely towards Duan Rong!
A chilling killing intent filled the sky and instantly enveloped Duan Rong!

That was the true killing intent that arose from the demon within.

Duan Rong glanced at the countless, seemingly solidified, murderous sword shadows, then suddenly closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, like an old monk entering meditation.

In fact, when he attained the ability to see through life and death, he had already seen through the life-desire demons hidden within the countless sword shadows.

This killing intent arose from his inner demons and could completely engulf his mind.

The difficulty of overcoming the "Sword Shadows" challenge lies not in life or death, but in fear. The fear of death is the true source of inner demons.

The inner demon of countless sword shadows amplified this fear infinitely, completely overwhelming his mind.

But after facing death, that fear vanished. With fear gone, how can inner demons amplify?

Zero, no matter how much you magnify it, is still zero.

The sky was filled with sword shadows, which suddenly moved and shot towards Duan Rong like a hail of arrows piercing his heart.

Duan Rong, however, sat motionless in the lotus pond of the boundless Xianghai, like an old monk, without even opening his eyes.

The sky was filled with seemingly solid sword shadows, each one piercing through Duan Rong's heart, yet disappearing without a trace. Duan Rong's clothes didn't even twitch. The sword shadows vanished in an instant, completely disappearing.

After the deathly silence, the lotus flowers in the lotus pond began to turn into heads and limbs...

Blood bubbles began to rise from the clear pool water.

As bubbling blood rose, a strong stench of blood began to permeate the world. In just a few breaths, the originally clear pool water had turned into thick, viscous bloody water.

Corpses floated to the surface from the thick, viscous, foul-smelling blood, their deaths gruesome...

More and more corpses floated up, layer upon layer...

But neither the floating corpses nor the blood could get within ten feet of Duan Rong sitting cross-legged...

During his first entry into the meditative state, the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood did not reach within a foot of him, and the same was true this time. Although the scene was terrifying, Duan Rong's heart remained unmoved.

The purpose of mountains of corpses and seas of blood is to ignite the bloodlust deep within people's hearts. Duan Rong had none of that, so how could he ignite it?
The mountain of corpses grew higher and higher, and pieces of flesh began to fall from the sky...

But no matter how terrifying and bloody the scene, within a ten-foot radius where Duan Rong sat cross-legged, there remained only clear water and lotus flowers, completely still.

If the mind is unmoved, the environment will also be unmoved.

Just as the sea of ​​blood spread to the endless distance, and the mountain of corpses, as tall as a mountain, seemed about to touch the sky, it vanished with a roar in the next moment.

Everything is just nothingness.

Amidst a sky full of sword shadows and mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Duan Rong remained seated cross-legged, like an old monk in deep meditation, without ever opening his eyes.

At this point, he had already overcome four layers of inner demons.

Amidst the entanglements of appetite and lust, the boundless sword shadows of life, and the mountains of corpses and seas of blood driven by the desire for slaughter, Duan Rong's mind remained perfectly still, full and unharmed.

The four inner demons vanished as easily as a gentle breeze passing over a hill.

After the mountains of corpses and seas of blood vanished with a roar, a large expanse of black mist suddenly appeared in the sky, churning and rolling like a black dragon.

Duan Rong suddenly opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

Amidst the churning black mist, a faint spiritual pressure descended. The deity had not yet materialized, but its imposing spiritual pressure had already arrived.

Deep within Duan Rong's usually unwavering mind, a flicker of fear surfaced, causing his body to tremble slightly. It was the divine pressure emanating from the heavens above.

Above the churning black clouds, the outline of the deity had already emerged.

The blurry outline gradually became clear.

The deities in the clouds are like high mountains suspended in the heavens.

The deity let out a gasp, the sound of his breath like rolling thunder, echoing throughout the heavens.

With that gasp, the god slowly opened his eyes, his gaze indifferently looking down upon all living beings, and also upon Duan Rong…

The moment the deity lowered his gaze, Duan Rong's mind trembled and his body shook like a leaf.

The cloud-based deity was his fifth inner demon.

Last time, he was able to overcome this mental demon by relying on the transformation and purification methods of the Six Wonders Contemplation Mind Gate, but this time he must penetrate this mental demon on his own.

Because relying on the sect's secret techniques, one can never overcome inner demons.

If this inner demon reappears when he comprehends the power of the laws or condenses the Cave of Clarity, can he still use the Transformation Method and Purification Method of the Six Wonders Observation Mind Gate to break this inner demon?

At the crucial moment of comprehending the power of the laws or condensing the Cave of Enlightenment, it is absolutely impossible to be distracted by the sect's secret techniques. Therefore, one must be without reliance and break through one's own inner demons. Only in this way can one completely extinguish the inner demons and pave an unobstructed path for the next two hurdles of condensing the Cave of Enlightenment.

Duan Rong's mind trembled with fear, shrouded by his inner demons. But even as his whole body trembled like a leaf, a trace of clarity still remained in his mind.

To stop his trembling, Duan Rong bit his lip until it bled, a thin line of blood trickling down his lip. He muttered to himself, "If this world is filthy, then aren't the high and mighty gods even more filthy?!"

He suddenly looked up, his gaze unwavering, meeting the eyes of the deity with lowered gaze. At that moment, the intense fear in Duan Rong's eyes slowly receded...

His gaze was sharp and solemn. Suddenly, he looked at the deity in the clouds and shouted to the sky.

"Treat all living beings as straw dogs!"

"All the gods and Buddhas in the heavens are the most heartless!"

"Break it for me!"

As soon as the word "break" was uttered, Duan Rong's body suddenly sprang up, like an arrow released from a bow, piercing the sky! He actually crashed directly into the cloud deity above the nine heavens.

The moment Duan Rong's body collided with the black cloud, the gods in the clouds and the churning black cloud vanished as if they had never existed.

Duan Rong sat cross-legged in the void above the sky, a faint smile playing on his lips. "High and mighty, yet nothing more than that."

The fifth inner demon, the cloud-based deity, has been overcome.

Strictly speaking, it was he who completely broke free from this inner demon.

The previous scenes of wine pools and meat forests, and countless sword shadows, were due to his cultivation of the White Bone Contemplation and the View of Life and Death.

The mountains of corpses and seas of blood were originally impossible to get close to and could not bother him at all.

This cloud-based deity was the inner demon he himself had broken free from.

Once this inner demon is broken, only the final inner demon remains: the Black Water Karma Sea.

Duan Rong sat in the void, his hair disheveled, the hem of his clothes fluttering in the sudden gust of wind.

Above the sky, black water poured back, as if the sky were collapsing.

Large swathes of black water surged into the lotus pond of the boundless Xianghai below.

Where the black water flows, lotus flowers and leaves decay and wither, turning into ashes.

In just a few breaths, the entire world was filled with only rolling black water, boundless and endless... This was the sixth level of inner demon, the Black Water Karmic Sea.

Duan Rong sat cross-legged in the void when suddenly many gray ghostly figures appeared in the void around him. These ghostly figures all showed various resentful expressions and pounced on him.

The spot where Duan Rong sat cross-legged was quickly engulfed by a circle of ghostly figures, which devoured his body.

These ghostly figures were all killed by him for various reasons, and naturally they harbored extreme resentment towards him, almost wanting to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin.

The most venomous ghost face closest to Duan Rong was Xie Daohan's.

He was originally a constable in Xiangu County, living a carefree life. But Duan Rong not only killed him, but also killed Jie Lei, the only son of the Jie family, wiping out the Jie family line.

Such a deep-seated hatred is utterly heart-wrenching.

Duan Rong sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, letting the ghostly figures devour his body.

He knew that this Blackwater Sea of ​​Karma was his inner demon. These ghostly figures were manifestations of his inner demons, not the real ghosts of Jie Daohan and the others.

This black sea of ​​evil represents the deepest sense of sin in people's hearts.

Even the most wicked and cruel person harbors a deep sense of guilt deep within their heart; this is the origin of the Blackwater Karmic Sea.

When inner demons emerge, this sense of guilt is magnified infinitely, engulfing one's mind and spirit.

Some extremely wicked people, under the influence of this inner demon, may even have suicidal thoughts.

"If killing is a sin, then is living also a sin?!"

Duan Rong suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the ghostly figures that were gnawing at him.

"Heaven creates all things to nourish man, yet man has no virtue to repay Heaven."

"Since this sense of guilt is innate, why torment yourself with it?!"

As Duan Rong uttered these words, a trace of sorrow flashed in his eyes.

But the ghostly figures that were devouring him suddenly stopped at that moment. Their originally venomous faces became blank, and in the next instant, they turned into green smoke and disappeared.

Duan Rong gazed at the boundless Blackwater Sea of ​​Karma and suddenly let out a long sigh. He raised his hand, stared blankly at his own hand, and murmured to himself, "In this vast world, who is without sin? Amidst the suffering of the common people, who is without birth?"

As this sigh arose, the vast expanse of black water suddenly vanished.

Duan Rong sat cross-legged in the void, and the sky above his head once again revealed a radiant glow like crystal. The sound of chanting filled the air, and Duan Rong's mind was filled with peace and tranquility.

Below, in the boundless sea of ​​lotus blossoms, lotus leaves rise like waves, stretching endlessly, and lotus flowers bloom in profusion, emitting blue light, red light, and white light...

As the three-colored holy light converged and shone upon Duan Rong, his inner demons vanished, and his mind was free of all hindrances. His figure suddenly disappeared within the three-colored holy light...

In the secluded cultivation chamber, Duan Rong suddenly opened his eyes.

The six layers of demonic realm were completely destroyed in less than half an incense stick's time.

The moment he opened his eyes, Chu Wushang's hands, which were weaving bamboo strips, paused. He looked at Duan Rong with a serious expression, suspecting that Duan Rong's rapid withdrawal from the meditative state was due to some unexpected incident during the process of overcoming his inner demons. He asked, "What happened? What went wrong? Which inner demon hasn't been overcome?"

Duan Rong turned to look at Chu Wushang and said, "Mr. Chu, the inner demons have been completely overcome." (End of Chapter)